Réveil du Rêve
by EmeraldDream1
Summary: In Ginny Weasley's fifth year at Hogwarts she's faced with demons of the past and prophetic nightmares of the future. Harry is finally starting to notice her, but at what cost? If Ginny's dreams are correct, the cost will be Harry's life. UPDATED!
1. Fire

Disclaimer:  I obviously don't own any of the Harry Potter empire.  It is in the capable hands of J.K. Rowling.  However, I am going to be borrowing the fabulous characters for a little adventure. J

A/N:  I'm finally back with the revised and updated Reveil du Reve!!!  If you don't already know, this is the first Harry Potter fanfic I ever started writing and unfortunately after OOtP came out I had to put it on hiatus for a while.  I'm now back and I've edited it a bit so it should be even better than before.  I tried to fit what I already had into cannon as close as possible.  In some places I couldn't without getting rid of a huge section, so I hope you understand when it veers into AU.  I've also written two new chapters that I will be posting shortly.  I hope you enjoy and I can't wait to hear what you think!

Réveil du Rêve (Waking from the Dream)

            It was an unusually cold Saturday afternoon in September and the students of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry put their attention toward ways to entertain themselves. Most of them braved the chill to go to Hogsmeade, while others were catching up on homework in the library. A few of the remaining students were hanging around the common rooms talking and playing exploding snap. 

            Ginny Weasley curled up in the corner of a comfortable couch in the Gryffindor common room. Her Divination homework lay on the floor, forgotten. She leaned against the arm of the scarlet couch and hugged a small gold pillow as fire blazed in front of her. This particular couch was often used as a place to warm up on cold winter days, to cuddle with a current love, or to do homework and talk with friends. Some used it as a place to think. Ginny used it as a place to forget.

            The flames jumped and danced, changing colors and shades.

            "Hey Gin," said a familiar voice behind her, a voice that had been in her most wonderful dreams and, unfortunately, her most horrid nightmares. 

            "Hey Harry," Ginny responded flatly as the 6th year Gryffindor boy sat on the couch with her.

            Ginny continued to stare into the fire. Watching the elegance and power of the flames, she tried to lose herself. Watching the gold, crimson, and azure lick at the at the wood in the fireplace, she tried to forget. 

            Minutes went by in silence.

            "Ginny," Harry Potter said softly, "are you okay?"

            Ginny turned toward Harry, feeling slightly guilty that she had been ignoring him. Concern shone in his emerald green eyes.

_            Well, it's for his own good,_ Ginny thought to herself.

            "I'm fine," she responded evenly while turning back to the fire.

            Harry continued to look at Ginny closely, as though he were trying to look into her soul. Trying to figure her out. 

            Harry didn't believe that she was fine. Far from it. Ginny wasn't looking well. Her brown eyes looked bloodshot and tired. He missed their familiar sparkle. Her face looked unusually pale and her red hair hung limply around her face. He tried to bring it up to Ron yesterday, but Ron just looked at him like he was crazy. The subject was dropped.

            Ginny might have been looking at the fire, but she felt Harry's gaze on her just the same. She felt her inner strength starting to buckle.

            "I'm just not sleeping well lately, that's all. I'm a little tired," Ginny offered as she turned back to face him. It wasn't a total lie. Not that it was the complete truth either.

            "Oh, okay," Harry said standing up to leave. He wasn't going to push her. "But if you ever need to talk..." He trailed off awkwardly.

            "Thanks Harry," she said with a smile. A soft smile that reached her eyes.

            "Yeah, well, um, I said I'd go meet Ron by the quidditch pitch, to help him practice.  He's a little nervous with the season starting up again..."  Harry paused for a moment until an idea occured to him, "Did you want to come with?  It might be more help for Ron to go against an actual Chaser." 

            "It's okay Harry," Ginny said, "I have loads of homework to finish.  Otherwise I would."  She gestured to the pile on the floor.

            "Make sure you work him hard though," she continued with a smirk, "My brother won't turn into a prime keeper overnight. He needs all the help he can get."

            Harry smiled. This was more like the Ginny he knew. Smiling and cracking jokes.

            "Okay," he said as he pushed away the strands of jet black hair that had fallen in his eyes, "Well, I'll see you later then."

            "'Kay. Bye Harry," Ginny responded, trying not to notice how his eyes sparkled in the firelight.

            "And Ginny," Harry started as his eyes took on a more serious look, "Don't forget that-"

            "I know," Ginny interrupted with a sigh, "If I ever need to talk to someone..."

Her voice trailed off as her brown eyes looked up into his green. 

_            It's almost like one of those muggle romance novels_, Ginny thought as she saw the firelight play off of Harry's eyes and felt the familiar butterflies resurfacing in her stomach, _the heroine even has a secret._

            At that thought Ginny broke off eye contact with Harry, remembering why their conversation had come about in the first place. She looked away for a second, regaining her composure. _Deep breath,_ she thought to herself, _you can do this._

            When Ginny looked back to Harry she had smile plastered on her face.

            "Have fun whipping Ron into shape, Harry. I have to get back to Divination. I'll talk to you later." At that Ginny picked up her books, opened them and suddenly became engrossed in the material. Harry didn't have a clue as to what had just happened.

            One minute he had been looking into Ginny's eyes, thinking how amazing a color brown really was. It reminded him of chocolate and earth and the branches of a broomstick. And he saw the firelight shining off her eyes. And just when he felt like he was about to discover something, a flash of fear sprinted across Ginny's eyes and she turned away. 

            A second later she turned back with a fake smile on her face saying something about Ron and Divination and she plopped back down on the couch and went back to ignoring him.

            "Girls," Harry muttered as he grabbed his broom and started toward the portrait opening. 

*********


	2. Ice

            By the time Harry made it to the quidditch pitch, he was in an awful mood. He wasn't sure of the exact reason, but was pretty sure it had a lot to do with the fact that Ginny Weasley was lying to him.  And not just the fact that she was lying.  Harry was positive that she was lying about something important too.

_            I don't understand why she can't tell me_, Harry thought, _I mean it's not like we're best friends, but...bloody hell, we've known each other for six years now! _

            "Harry!" yelled Ron Weasley from about 50 yards away, "Where have you been?"

Ron ran to meet up with Harry, broomstick in hand.

            "Sorry about that Ron," Harry said thinking for moment, "Just lost track of time."

            Harry wasn't sure why he didn't tell Ron about his talk with Ginny. It just didn't seem like the time to bring it up. 

            "S'okay mate," Ron said, oblivious of Harry's contemplative mood, "All right, let's get started. If I'm going to win us the Quidditch Cup this year, I need lots of practice."

            Ron smiled as he held his broomstick up in the air, like it was a trophy. His excitement was contagious. Harry smiled back, letting his concerns about Ginny fall to the back of his mind.

            "Okay, Ron," Harry said with a smirk, "Let's see what you've got."

**********

_            Oh dear,_ Ginny thought with a sigh as soon as she heard the portrait door close, _I don't know how long I can keep this up._

            She set her untouched homework down once again. 

            People had noticed that something wasn't right with the youngest Weasley. It had started a few weeks ago. Her friend Rowena, another 5th year Gryffindor, had began to note that Ginny looked rather tired. Lavender, a 6th year, had asked if she had ever considered a suntan charm as her face looked rather pale. Even Hermione had taken to looked concerned about her whenever she wasn't rushing around the castle for prefect duties. And now Harry. __

_            At this rate, even Ron will become suspicious._

            If only it hadn't been for those blasted nightmares.  They had started in the summer, after the latest run-in with Voldemort.  Ginny, unlike her brother Ron, was unafraid to say the evil wizard's name. She felt that after someone almost kills you, you are permitted certain rights. 

            Ginny quickly pushed aside the memories of first year that started to surface. She had more urgent things to worry about. The dreams.

            They had started a few months ago.

            At first they hadn't been anything special, they just seemed more real than regular dreams. They were about boring stuff, like talking with Ron at the Burrow or reading a letter from Hermione. Stuff that normally happened. Stuff that would happen a few days later and give her an odd sense of déjà vu. But then the dreams changed.

            They started to grow darker and more unpleasant. At first Ginny couldn't remember what they were about when she woke. She was only left with a horrible queasy feeling and a memory of fear. 

            But once she'd gotten to school, the dreams began to get clearer. Images and memories emerged from the mist, along with people and places.  Surprisingly they weren't dreams of the Chamber or Department of Mysteries, like she had suspected.

            A month into school Ginny had started to put the pieces together, to match the voices and events. 

            Ron and Hermione were there, arguing with her in the library. Colin Creevy, one of her few friends, lying on the ground in the corridor- lifeless. And Ginny herself in a room reminiscent of the Chamber of Secrets with Harry standing beside her and Voldemort in front of her. 

            It was this final scene that scared Ginny the most. Last night she had finally seen the end of the of the nightmare. And because of what happened in her dream she had to start avoiding Harry at all costs.

_            Because in the dream,_ Ginny thought to herself, _I'm the one who kills him._

*********


	3. The Common Room

*********

            Ginny wasn't getting much homework done sitting in front of the fire and thinking, so she decided to move to one of the common room tables. She sat down in the chair and dropped her books down on the wooden table with a bang. Ginny pulled out a strawberry flavored sugar quill and sucked on it while she looked at her pile of books.

            Time passed and Ginny was soon halfway through the assigned chapter in _The Time Machine: Methods of seeing into the future_ by Fireena Elstrock. Her worries had been forgotten as she became engrossed in what was a surprisingly interesting school book. She was turning the page and reaching for another sugar quill when Hermione came and sat beside her.

            "Hi Ginny," the bushy-haired sixth year girl said.  A shiny badge glinted on her robes.

            "Hey Hermione," Ginny replied with a smile, "How are prefect duties going?"

            Hermione smiled and started talking about the many responsibilities of being a Gryffindor prefect. Ginny had to bite back a smile.

            "...And of course it's a great honor to be a prefect," Hermione continued, "Although I don't know how Ron and I managed it seeing as how he and Harry always succeed in convincing me to break a million school rules with them."

            It was true. Ron, Harry, and Hermione had broken more rules than one could count. Last year, Fred and George had tried to come up with an accurate tally by using a checklist of the rules. They would ambush the three in the halls and try and get them to confirm or deny the breaking of different rules, but Ron, Harry, and Hermione would never give them an answer. So they decided to ask around the school instead. They even went around asking all of the other Gryffindors. Seamus Finnegan was quite a help because he seemed to know more gossip than the other Gryffindor boys. Fred and George didn't bother asking the Slytherins. Everyone knows they're a bunch of liars anyway.

            So eventually, after this very scientific study of gossip and hearsay, it was decided that the trio had broken no fewer than 173 specific school rules over their years at Hogwarts. 

            The twins had gone so far as to make a plaque to 'Hogwarts' most rule-breaking students' out of wood they had stolen from a broken cabinet in Trelawney's classroom. They had even enchanted the italic letters to change colors. 

            Angelina, Fred's girlfriend, had suggested that they should go with something that sounded better. Like most mischievous or trouble-making students. George had calmly informed her that he and Fred were planning on retaining those titles and didn't want to give them away.

            When the three then fifth year Gryffindors received the plaque the next morning in the Great Hall they had gotten three very different responses. Hermione looked horrified and grabbed the plaque out of Fred's hands so she could put under the table away from notice. Ron had blushed red and smiled, looking rather proud of his accomplishment. Harry was much harder to read. He looked surprised and embarrassed at first, but after a moment his shyness faded and he looked the twins in the face and said, "One hundred and seventy three, huh?" and a smirk rose on his face. Then he thanked Fred and George and calmly sat down. 

            The rest of the Great Hall was abuzz.

            "A hundred and seventy three?" said a Ravenclaw boy in awe.

            "Brilliant!" exclaimed a fellow Gryffindor.

            Malfoy and several other Slytherins started grumbling about stupid Potter and his bloody friends.

            "If they've broken so many rules why don't they get in trouble?" questioned a Hufflepuff girl. 

            It was a question that the three Gryffindors had often asked themselves. They broke rules out of necessity and things usually turned out alright in then end. In fact they usually ended up somehow getting points out of the situation. They were Hogwarts golden children. A fact that most accepted, some envied, and the Slytherins hated.

            Hermione, who looked like she was about to faint, was nervously glancing at the head table where the professors sat. She looked liked she was about to explode or burst out crying any minute. 

            However, just then Ginny, who had been sitting diagonal from Hermione, saw Ron put a hand on Hermione's shoulder and rub it slightly. He whispered some consoling words to her and she smiled, wiping a tear out of her eye.

            Glad that Hermione was fine, Ginny turned back to the conversation nearest her. The subject of conversation was the one that had been foremost in her mind at the moment. 

_            "What was Harry Potter smirking about?"_

            Several theories had been thrown about. One girl thought that Harry was smirking because the rumors of his rule-breaking had been so exaggerated. A boy sitting next to her hypothesized that maybe Harry had broken more rules than that. There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about the possibility and then most shrugged it off and laughed. Colin Creevy, who had also once been obsessed with the famous Harry Potter, added that supposedly Harry's dad was also once quite a trouble-maker at Hogwarts. Ginny kept her opinions to herself and just listened. When talk turned to the possibility of an upcoming Potter prank with the Weasley twins as the cause of Harry's upturned mouth, Ginny tuned out the conversation and looked over at the boy himself.

            She saw Harry reassuring Hermione as Ron continued to rub her right shoulder. Hermione was looking much calmer and much more convinced that she wasn't going to get expelled because of all the rules they had broken and seemed to realize that the teachers hadn't even been listening in the first place. All of the sudden Harry made a comment that caused both of his best friends to smile broadly. Harry was smiling too and it was that brilliant heart-stopping sort of a smile that still made Ginny go weak in the knees. And he probably didn't realize what kind of effect his smile could have on a girl, blast him.

            "...And I was so surprised when the letter came by owl saying that I'd been selected to be a Gryffindor prefect last year. I didn't think I had a chance." Hermione's voice dragged Ginny out of the past.

            Hermione might've been surprised that she had been named prefect, but nobody else was. Even with all the rules that she helped break, she was the world's most perfect student. Hermione had been top of her class for five years running and would probably be the top student this year too. She was always doing extra research and probably knew more spells and charms than most of the seventh years. And ironically, she had a real penchant for the rules.

            Nope, nobody was surprised that Hermione Granger was a Gryffindor prefect.

            "Well, you're doing wonderfully," Ginny said.

            "Thank you," Hermione beamed, "So what are you working on?"

            "Divination," Ginny replied.

            "How's that going?" Hermione replied.

            Ginny smiled at Hermione's interest. It wasn't an interest in the subject of divination, Ginny was sure of that, it was an interest in her as a friend. Ginny and Hermione had gotten very close the past two years and had found out that they had a lot in common. Besides the fact that Hermione was friends with Ginny's brother, they also took a lot of the same subjects in school, such as arithmancy, transfiguration, and charms. Ginny was very interested in the muggle world, which Hermione of course knew a lot about. They both had an interest in Harry's well being. And they also knew of the difficulty of making friends. Hermione didn't have many friends aside from Ron and Harry because she tended to bury herself in homework. Ginny didn't have many friends because most people were cautious around her after that whole incident first year. 

            Ginny had considered telling Hermione about her dreams. She couldn't talk to Harry about them for reasons that were blatantly obvious and she couldn't tell Ron because he'd be overprotective. She couldn't bring her best friend Rowena into the situation. And writing her mum was out of the question. Hermione was the only possible choice.

            Ginny still wasn't sure that she should tell Hermione though. What would she say? _Divination's going fine, oh and I think I might kill one of your best friends in the near future._

            Plus, knowing Hermione's views on predicting the future in the first place the best she would get would be a comforting 'it's only a dream speech'. Hermione considered divination of any sort a waste of valuable learning time. In fact, so did most of the school. That was the reason that Ron and Harry were still taking it. Because it was a joke of a subject and the easiest to B.S.

            Ginny wasn't so sure that divination was a joke. Oh, Trelawney might be a fake, but the subject itself was a different story. The predictions that Ginny made in that class often came true and she couldn't ignore that. She'd also been getting the funniest feeling of deja vu more and more often. Sometimes Ginny even felt like she'd heard the day's lessons before they'd been taught.

            No, divination wasn't a joke. A bittersweet surety that made Ginny's dreams even more dire. Because they felt real. And they were becoming clearer. 

            And until she figured out what was going on, Ginny couldn't tell anyone anything. Because Hermione would tell Ron and then Harry would find out and try to help. _And I need to stay as far away from Harry Potter as possible._

            "It's going fine Hermione," Ginny said.

            Hermione was looking at her quizzically and Ginny wondered how long it had taken her to respond.

            "Are you okay Ginny?" Hermione asked while she started to give Ginny the same concerned look that Harry had given her a few hours ago.

            "Yes, I'm fine," Ginny said quickly and rather unconvincingly, "but I just realized that I have to go to the library because I told Colin I'd study with him. So I'll talk to you later. Bye!" 

            And Ginny leapt out of her chair and went straight over to the portrait door, quickly saying the password.

            "Ginny!" Hermione called after her as she stepped out into the corridor, "You forgot your -"

            The door slammed shut before Ginny could hear the rest of what Hermione was yelling.  Ginny took a deep breath and started walking. She went quickly around the corner and immediately ran right into a solid body. 

**********


	4. Something about Ginny

**********

            Harry and Ron were silent as they trudged back to the castle after two hours of practice. They were both hot and sweaty and exhausted. Ron had been doing a great job as keeper and Harry had really had to work for the few goals that he'd scored. 

            "So Harry, do you think I'll do better this year?" Ron asked seriously as they entered the castle.

            "You'd think that we weren't at the same practice," Harry joked, "Yeah, I think you will, as long as you ignore those bloody Slytherins.  You had a few wicked saves today.  A little more practice and you'll be just as good as Wood was during his Hogwarts days." 

            "Seriously?" Ron said with a sparkle in his eyes.

            "Yeah," Harry responded.

            "Brilliant!" Ron said excitedly. Harry smiled.

            "Don't get too full of yourself though," Harry teased, "Or we'll have to kick you off the team."

            The two boys laughed as they walked down the corridor. Then Ron turned to Harry.

            "Who says you have the power to kick me off the team anyway?" Ron challenged with a smile.

            They neared the corner leading toward Gryffindor Tower.

            "Well," Harry started, "For one thing-"

            But Harry didn't get to finish his sentence because he had just run into something, or rather, someone. 

            Ginny Weasley had run straight into Harry and was now sitting on the ground looking a little dazed.

            "Ginny?" Ron asked.

            No one responded to Ron as Harry reached out his hand to help Ginny up. She blew a strand of crimson hair out of her face and then took Harry's hand. He helped her up and they stood there for a moment until Ginny realized how close they were and Harry realized that they were still holding hands. 

            Harry dropped her hand like he'd been burned and stepped backward. 

            Ron was curious for a moment why his best friend's face was flushed, but concluded it was because of quidditch and left it at that.

            "Thanks Harry," Ginny said softly, looking up to meet his eyes, "Sorry about that."

            "It's okay," Harry responded, "Are you alright?"

            Harry could barely think. _It's those eyes again. They're so…Ginny must have found some new spell. Yes, that's it. She's practicing some new enchantment she learned._

            Ginny was feeling many of the same things looking into Harry's emerald eyes, but having had much more experience controlling these feelings, she ignored them.

            "Yeah, I'm fine," Ginny said. It was becoming her mantra these days.

            "So how was practice Ron?" Ginny asked, turning her attention to her brother.

            "Oh, it was brilliant," Ron answered with slightly less enthusiasm than he had before.  Harry and Ginny were both acting bloody strange. "So where were you off to in such a hurry?"

            Ginny looked puzzled for a minute and then as if just remembering she answered.

            "Oh, I told Colin I would meet him in the library to study Potions and I'm late."

            "Oh, okay," Ron replied.

            "See you later then," Ginny said as she took off down an intersecting corridor.

            Ron and Harry both looked as Ginny ran down the hallway with her shoulder-length hair swinging back and forth. As Ginny turned a corner Ron pursed his lips and Harry blinked rapidly as if coming out of a trance. They turned back toward Gryffindor Tower and Ron looked at Harry and spoke.

            "You're right about Ginny. Something's up."

            Harry gave him a questioning look. "Why'd you change your mind?" 

            "Because the library's that way," Ron said seriously as he pointed down the hallway in a direction opposite the one Ginny had gone.

*********

            Harry and Ron walked into the Gryffindor common room having decided to go take their showers and then reconvene to discuss Ginny. Hermione spotted them from across the room and ran over.

            "Ron," she said slightly out of breath, "I have to talk to you. It's about Ginny." 

            Ron and Harry looked at each other in shock. They seemed to reach a silent agreement and then Ron sighed.

            "Harry and I'll go take our showers and we'll meet back here in ten minutes. It seems like we have a lot to talk about." With that Ron left and started up the stairs to the boys dormitory. Ron wasn't usually the one to take charge of the situation, but Hermione thought that this newfound leadership suited the red-haired Weasley.

            She looked at Harry curiously, but Harry just shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn't quite sure what was going on either and started to follow Ron up the stairs. Hermione sat down in a comfortable chair in the corner waiting impatiently for the boys to come back down. Something was going on with Ginny Weasley and apparently she wasn't the only one that noticed. The look that had flown between Ron and Harry made Hermione sure that they knew something too. Now if only they would hurry up so that the three of them could discuss what was going on. Well, she thought to herself, at least they'll be clean. But that thought led to one about Ron in the shower that Hermione banished from her mind as quickly as it appeared. Ron was only her friend, blast him! 

            So, sitting in a comfortable chair in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione Granger started to recite the recipe of the most complicated potion she knew. Strangely enough, it was also a potion that she could use to severely harm Ronald Weasley if he didn't come to his senses soon.

***********


	5. Ginny's Nightmare

***********

            Ginny Weasley kept running until she reached a door, flung it open, and burst outside. Once out there she slowed down, put her hands on her knees, and took a deep breath. When she started breathing more normally she looked up and glanced around her. It looked like a perfect day. The blue sky was tinged orange as the sun began to set behind the mountain in the distance. It was warmer than usual with a slight cool breeze. The grass was green and nightingales were singing a happy tune at a nearby trees. Ginny couldn't understand it.

_            How can everything be so perfect when I'm living the biggest lie of my life?_

            She kept walking until she reached the lake. When she reached the shoreline, she looked at her reflection in the water. Ginny didn't recognize herself. She looked worn and tired. Her face was paler than her usual cream complexion and it made her freckles stand out even more. She had dark bags under her eyes and her hair hung flat. Ginny looked at her eyes. They looked dead, as though the sparkle was ripped from them. _I guess in a way it was. No wonder everyone is asking how I am. _

            Ginny looked away, angered that she hadn't realized the drastic difference in her appearance and wishing she had paid more attention. _If I had realized then I could have done something. Makeup, hair spell, that suntan charm that Lavender was talking about. Oh well, I can't go back in time. _

            Deciding that she'd figure out what to do about her appearance later, Ginny walked away from the lake and sat down on a rock nearby. She watched the ripples play on the water's surface. The sun continued to set and the sky got darker and darker. The darkness appealed to Ginny. She felt like she fit better in the darkness now than in the light. In the light she had to hide all that was happening to her and all that she was feeling. In the darkness she was free. She could feel what she was feeling, try to accept what was meant to be, and rail at the injustice of it all. The darkness felt comfortable, like her seat in front of the fire. Ginny put her knees up and hugged them close. And as she tightened her hold she started to remember her dream. 

_            "Ginny," Ron was yelling, "You can't do this!"_

_            "He's right," said Hermione in a much calmer tone as she put a hand on top of Ron's to quiet him down, "You're dead if you try this alone."_

_            Ginny looked around and noticed that she, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the library at a large wooden table. Ron looked angrier than she had ever seen him. His face was flushed red and smoke was practically blowing out of his ears. Hermione looked angry too, but in a more reserved fashion. There was steel in the look that she was sending Ginny. But there was also something else, there was fear._

_            "It's my fault in the first place," Ginny heard herself saying. _

_            "Nobody blames you Ginny," Hermione said softly._

_            "Ginny, don't do this. Dumbledore's gone to get help. We should all just wait here. Harry'd want us to," Ron said pleadingly._

_            "You were always the one to break the rules and help Harry when he was in trouble, what's so different now?" Ginny's voice was deceptively calm. "You risked death for him before, why can't I?" _

_            "Ginny, it's different..." Ron started._

_            "Why?" Ginny demanded, "I care about him too you know."_

_            "Ginny, don't go kill yourself because of some crush," Ron said abruptly._

_            Ginny felt a pain in her stomach at her brother's words._

_            "God," Ginny started as she looked at Ron incredulously, "I thought you knew me. I thought that after all these years as my brother you would know me better than that. So what if I had a crush on Harry? He's my friend, and yours too I might add, and he deserves to live. He saved my life once..." Ginny paused to look directly at her brother who was looking decidedly uncomfortable. "And I'd like to return the favor."_

_            With that, Ginny stood up and walked out of the library, leaving Ron and Hermione in shock._

_            All of the sudden the corridor started to swirl and a mist rose from the floor. As everything started to blur Ginny reached her arms out and tried to find something to grab onto._

_            A few moments later, the mist started to subside and the ground beneath Ginny stabilized. Her outreached hand touched someone's robe and all of the sudden Ginny was pushing her way through a crowd that had gathered in the main corridor. Ginny reached the middle of the crowd and looked at the ground where everyone was standing. Ginny felt the shock and terror rise up in her as she saw Colin Creevy lying on the tile floor, unmoving. She ran to his side and knelt down beside him, holding his hand and softly touching his face. His face was so pale and his hand was cold. Ginny could feel wetness on her face and knew she was crying. _

_            Madame Pomfrey burst through the crowd and shooed her away. Somebody took Ginny's hand and led her away from Colin's body. They put an arm around her and hugged her, but Ginny barely felt it. Somehow she knew that this was all her fault. Her friend died because of something she had done. _

_            As Ginny walked down the corridor it began to change again. The ceilings lowered and turned to stone. She was walking in a tunnel and following a path with many twists and turns. Soon the tunnel opened up and Ginny was in a large stone chamber with tall ceilings. _

_            "So Miss Weasley, you've finally decided to arrive," said a voice dripping with evil._

_            Ginny to her right and saw two lone figures. One was Voldemort. He was wearing a hood that obscured his face and stood a half a head taller than the figure to his right. Harry._

_            Ginny started to walk towards them and Harry turned around to look at her. His face was full of surprise and confusion. A lock of jet-black hair fell in front of his eyes, but Harry didn't brush it away. He just continued to stare at her as she walked in his direction. He looked as though he was trying to tell her something, but Ginny couldn't read his emerald eyes. She turned back toward Voldemort and stopped right in front of him. Stifling her fears, Ginny looked up at him._

_            "Well, you've certainly grown up since I saw you last," Voldemort said smoothly, "Pity you didn't die then. You've kept me behind schedule."_

_            Ginny shivered at the way Voldemort talked about her death. As if her being alive was some sort of inconvenience. Her brush with death first year had almost been the cause of Voldemort's rebirth. Instead, Harry himself had inadvertently been the cause of Voldemort's current state. Ginny looked into Voldemort's face and saw no physical resemblance to Tom Riddle. His face had been so distorted and mangled by the Dark Arts that Ginny could only recognize him by the sinister glint in his cold gray eyes. It was the same glint that had been in his eyes first year in the Chamber as he slowly sucked the life out of her and told her calmly and darkly that she was a stupid, foolish girl. _

_            Voldemort continued on. "No matter. It will be more entertaining now."_

_            "Leave her alone!" Harry cried out from beside her. He was struggling to move, but it wasn't working. In fact, Harry hadn't moved since she got here and Ginny realized that he was probably stuck in one place by some sort of enchantment._

_            "You shouldn't meddle in other's affairs Potter, it's rather rude," Voldemort said as he turned away from Ginny and looked at Harry instead._

_            Ginny knew that something bad was happening as soon as Voldemort raised his wand. Oh, why hadn't Harry just kept silent! Ginny tried to think of something that could work as a distraction, but before she could do anything, Voldemort aimed his wand at Harry and muttered "Crucio."_

_            Harry screamed and slumped to the ground, writhing in agony. Ginny rushed over to him and pulled him into her arms. Harry passed out from the pain. Ginny stroked his hair lovingly and then turned toward Voldemort in anger._

_            "Why can't you just leave him alone!" Ginny screamed. "It's me you want."_

_Voldemort__ put away his wand and slid over to where Ginny sat holding Harry. "That's where you have it wrong, my dear," He said silkily. "I have great need for both of you."_

_            "Why?" Ginny asked, "Why can't you just take me and let Harry go?"_

_            "Because the only way that I can ensure that you keep your promise is if Harry Potter is dead. We can't have him coming to your rescue, can we?"_

_            Ginny looked down at Harry. He would try to rescue her. Harry Potter was always the hero. Ginny didn't think he knew any other way to be. She couldn't let Voldemort kill him though, there had to be some way that she could save him._

_            "What promise?" she heard herself asking._

_            "We'll go into that later, in great detail." Voldemort evaded._

_            "Just let Harry go and I'll do whatever you want." _

_            Voldemort made a face where it looked like he was trying to smile. It came out as more of a twisted smirk._

_            Harry had started to stir and moved to get up._

_            "No Gin, don't," he said weakly._

_            Ginny looked down at Harry and knew that she had to do anything in her power to save him. She stood up and faced Voldemort._

_            "Just let him go," she said firmly._

_            "Well Miss Weasley, I think I might take you up on your offer," Voldemort said slowly. _

_            "Ginny, don't!" Harry said as forcefully as he could as he tried to push himself up to a sitting position. _

_            "Just let him go and don't harm him and I promise to do what you want," Ginny said as she tried to ignore Harry's protests. She would do anything, even make a deal with the devil, to save the one she loves. _

_            "Agreed," said Voldemort as though he had just won a clever chess match. He held out his hand and Ginny shook it, feeling a cold shiver down her spine when her hand touched Voldemort's.  Harry was standing up by now and looking at the linked hands in shock.  He still couldn't move more than a foot from that spot on the floor._

_            Ginny released her hand quickly and rubbed it on her robe trying to get rid of the slimy feeling. Then she looked back at Voldemort._

_            "Let him go!" _

_            "I'll let your little boyfriend go in a minute girl," Voldemort said sharply._

_            Boyfriend? Ginny thought._

_            "It seems to me that we're in an interesting predicament here," Voldemort continued, "You see I can't just let him go, I'd much rather see him die."_

_            "Then kill me and let Ginny go," Harry said from behind her._

_            "Harry don't say that," Ginny pleaded as she looked at him. He looked so brave and noble standing there, trying to give his life to save hers. Turning back to Voldemort she spoke, "You promised you wouldn't hurt him!"_

_            "Yes," Voldemort conceded, "But I never said that someone else couldn't help me get rid of my little Harry Potter problem. And who better than his girlfriend?"_

_            "I'd never hurt Harry," Ginny said firmly._

_            "Well you did make a promise to do anything I wanted you to do," Voldemort said slowly._

_            "You broke your end of the bargain, it doesn't count anymore," Ginny said angrily._

_            "Well, I guess I'll just have to insure your cooperation then," Voldemort concluded as he took out his wand. "Imperio!"_

_            Ginny felt light, like she didn't have to worry about anything anymore. She barely registered what was happening until Voldemort whispered his command._

_            "Kill him."_

_            Ginny tried to fight it, but she started walking towards Harry against her own volition. Harry, who was standing silently in place looked at her with widened eyes. Ginny took out her wand and pointed it at Harry. _

_            She was screaming inside trying to break the curse, but nothing was working, she had lost control of her body. It was just like first year. Voldemort was once again in control of her actions. Only this time she was sure that she would remember what she did. _

_            It was like she was watching a film and she couldn't press stop. She saw Voldemort a few steps away grinning evilly and wondered how one person could contain that much malice. Evidently he wasn't much of a human anymore._

_            She looked down at her wand and then up at Harry. He looked shocked and scared and uncertain. He was still shaking from the effects of the curse, but was standing there bravely. She looked into his emerald eyes and they changed. They now held a look of complete faith and trust. _

_            Ginny's hope resurged and she tried anew to break the curse. But just as she started to summon her will she heard her own voice, steady and calm._

_            "Avada Kedavra." _


	6. It has begun

_"She's lying," __Harry__ said confidently as __Ron__ and Hermione looked at him with rapt attention, "And it's about something big too."_

Hermione was muttering to herself as Harry approached the corner of the common room where she sat. Harry stopped in front of Hermione's chair and managed to catch snippets of what she was saying.

"Infusion of wormwood…pinch of wolfsbane…witch hazel…Ron…stupid git…"

Harry smiled and tried to hold in a laugh. It seemed like Ron and Hermione's mutual feelings were obvious to everyone except Ron. He wouldn't be surprised if Hermione got fed up enough to hex Ron one day just so that he would get some sense knocked into him.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said to his grumbling best friend. It would be better to get her out of whatever mood she worked herself into. Who knew what would happen if Ron suddenly showed up?

"Oh," Hermione said, surprised by Harry's voice, "Hi Harry."

"Having fun talking to yourself?" Harry teased.

"What?" Hermione said as she flushed red, "I was just trying to memorize a potion, that's all."

"Okay," Harry said in a tone that made Hermione wonder how much he had heard, "Oh, and Ron is going to be down in a minute."

"Why would I care when Ron is coming down?" Hermione said defensively.

"No reason," Harry replied, "Except that you had to tell him something about Ginny."

"Oh, well, I had forgotten," Hermione said as the flush crept back into her cheeks, "It's just that…"

Hermione's voice trailed off and Harry got the impression that she was contemplating whether to voice something aloud. She opened her mouth to speak when all of the sudden her gaze jerked to a place behind Harry's head.

"Honestly Ron! What took you so long?" The 6th year prefect seemed to be back to her normal self and appeared rather indignant. However, the rosy color of her cheeks had yet to fade.

Ron just shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go sit at the table."

Hermione and Harry followed Ron's suggestion and the three made their way over to a large wooden table in the common room. As soon as they had gotten settled, Ron spoke up.

"Okay, we need to figure out what's going on with Ginny. Hermione, why don't you start."

The brown-haired Gryffindor looked at Ron and nodded.

"Well, I hadn't talked to Ginny in a while because prefect duties take up so much of my time, so when I saw her in the common room earlier I thought it would be the perfect time to catch up."

Ron and Harry nodded at her to continue.

"We were talking about her divination class and my status as prefect and she kept dazing out. Then I really looked at her and I realized how unwell she was looking. It surprised me. Then I thought back and realized that she hadn't looked well at all since school started. I felt like a really awful friend for not noticing. I asked her what was wrong and then she got up abruptly saying that she had to study with Colin."

Hermione's eyes sparkled as she told the story and Ron had to work hard to keep his mind on the topic at hand. The fact that his sister had been acting stranger than usual wasn't lost on Ron. He had noticed a few months ago. He just felt that most things tended to work themselves out as long as you left them alone. Plus, Ginny had gotten really mad at him in the past for meddling in her business. He didn't want another showing of her temper. Oh sure, everybody thought that Ginny was sweet and quiet. Ron knew the truth. He knew that Ginny could talk your ear off if she felt comfortable with you and that her temper could rival his mother's if you got on her bad side_. Well, the sweet part isn't entirely a lie_, Ron thought, _she is my baby sister after all. _

As he tuned back into Hermione's monologue he realized that he would have to do something about the situation.

"…And she forgot her books," Hermione said as though it were sacrilege. " And this is the worst of it…a few minutes later Colin walked into the room and I said, 'Weren't you supposed to be studying with Ginny?' and he looked at me strangely and said that he hadn't seen Ginny since lunch. Ron, is she okay?"

Ron looked at Harry and then at Hermione. "I don't know. But I'm worried about her. She looks as though she hasn't slept in days and she's acting really odd. She ran straight into Harry earlier, said she had to go to the library, and then went off in the wrong direction."

"She isn't sleeping well," Harry said quietly, finally deciding to speak up. "I talked to her earlier and that's what she told me."

"Well, if that's it then we can just make her a sleeping draft or something," said Hermione, hoping to fix the situation.

Ron didn't say anything and looked at Harry, waiting for him to continue. Ron could tell that there was something else on his best friend's mind. Harry looked down at his hands and then back up to look at Ron.

"She's lying," Harry said confidently as Ron and Hermione looked at him with rapt attention, "And it's about something big too."

"How do you know?" Ron asked seriously.

"I don't know how to describe it," Harry said, feeling a little flustered, "It's in her eyes or something. She's trying to hide something."

"What do you think it could be?" asked Hermione curiously as she leaned slightly forward in her chair.

"I'm not sure," Harry said, "I just think that it's got to be something big if she's trying so hard to hide it from everyone."

"Well," Ron said as he paused a moment to think, "We just have to try and convince her to tell us then."

"Ron, I'm not sure if that'll work," Hermione said hesitantly.

"I'd have to agree with her Ron, I don't think it'll be that easy," Harry added.

Ron was quiet for a moment while he weighed his options. Something had to be done. Ginny was starting to act the way she had…well, second year. It was scaring Ron a lot more than he'd ever admit. Now with Fred and George out of school, he was the one who had to protect Ginny. If only he knew what he was protecting her from.

"Well, have you got any other plans?" Ron queried. Harry and Hermione stayed silent. It was enough for Ron. "Weasley plan A it is then. Let's go get dinner, I'm starved."

The three Gryffindors made their way down to the Great Hall where crowds of hungry students had already gathered. They sat down at their usual seats and Ron immediately started shoveling food into his mouth. The other two were less eager to chow down. Hermione was slowly picking at her food as she stared off into the distance. It looked like her brain was working overtime. Harry was simply pushing his food around his plate, not eating a single bite. Every once in a while he would look over toward Ginny's empty seat a little farther down the Gryffindor table. Soon Hermione caught the direction of Harry's gaze and turned to Ron.

"Honestly Ron, how can you eat like that at a time like this?"

Ron gave a garbled reply that sounded slightly like "A tryme wrike rut?"

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms as Ron swallowed his food.

"A time like what?" he repeated.

Hermione rolled her eyes as though Ron should know exactly what she was speaking about.

"Did you notice who's missing?" Hermione said while looking pointedly at a seat farther down the table.

Ron looked at the seat. Ginny. He sighed.

"She probably just wasn't hungry. I'm sure it's no big deal." Ron felt like he was trying to convince himself instead of Hermione.

Hermione looked as unconvinced as Ron felt. She looked over at Ron and he felt as though she could read his mind. When she spoke, her tone had softened.

"It's just that I'm worried about her."

"And you think I'm not?" Ron asked in a passionate tone, "You think I'm not scared that something's wrong?"

Hermione was quick to come to the defense. "Ron I didn't mean-"

"Don't you think I'm scared to death that it's going to be like second year all over again and that I won't be able to help her this time?" Ron continued in a sharp whisper. "I'm not stupid you know. I knew something was wrong months ago. Right before we came to school she was having nightmares…lots of them. She would daze out a lot and wouldn't eat much."

Hermione and Harry hadn't moved since Ron started speaking. They both felt that they had somehow underestimated their best friend. It wasn't a secret that Ron could act dense sometimes, his relationship (or lack thereof) with Hermione being a prime example, but apparently he noticed more than he let on.

"But Ron," Hermione questioned gently, "Why didn't you-"

"Why didn't I say something…do something?" Ron said with a sigh. "I thought that the nightmares had stopped once we got to school. Ginny seemed happier and didn't look as worn down. And I didn't see her as often so I didn't notice the changes. I was too caught up in school and quidditch. I just…"

Ron trailed off.

"Ron, it's okay," Harry said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Ginny's fine, we just have to get her to talk to us about whatever is going on."

"Yeah Ron," said Hermione while reaching across the table to put her hand on top of Ron's, "It'll all work out."

Ron sighed deeply and then seemed to come to a decision.

"We'll talk to her after dinner then," he said, "No use us losing out on dinner just because Ginny isn't hungry."

Ron forced a laugh and then took to staring down at the table. Hermione squeezed his hand and he looked up for a moment and was surprised at the comfort and love he saw in his friend's eyes. Harry decided that it would be a good time to switch subjects.

"So, are you ready for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw, Ron?"

Ron seemed to awaken from whatever calming trance he found himself in and started going on about his plans for training during the next week and ideas he had for the team, even though technically Harry was captain. Ron talked on as they ate, rambling about Quidditch as usual. In fact, Harry thought, things almost seemed back to normal. Everything, that is, except for the concern for Ginny that lurked in the back of his mind. And the fact that his two best friends were still holding hands across the table and neither one seemed in a hurry to let go.

* * *

In a darkened room a lone figure sat gazing into a crystal ball. A single candle flickered on the table and cast eerie shadows on the gauzy pieces of fabric that were draped casually around the room. The figure pointed a wand at the crystal ball and muttered an incantation. Suddenly the ball started to glow and it was filled with misty swirling shapes. The shapes gradually began to take their places in the ball. There, in the middle of the vision, stood a fifteen-year-old Ginevra Weasley clutching a leather-bound journal. Her red hair was being blown about by a mysterious breeze and her eyes were determined. In the background Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ginny's brother Ron were gathered. Ginny took a step forward, and the other three looked as though they wanted to protest. Instead, however, they stood still and led Ginny go forward alone. Pain and worry was evident in the trio's eyes. Ginny finally stopped and put the journal on the ground, pausing a moment to steal a quick glance at her friends. Then she slowly took out her wand out of her robes and pointed it the sky. She muttered an incantation and a sickening green light filled the vision. Seconds later, nothing was left except the tattered remains of the leather-bound book whose pages were being blown by the wind.

"Well Miss Weasley," said Professor Dumbledore with a sigh, "It has begun."


	7. Like the Stars

**********

            Ginny Weasley sat on the boulder looking out at the lake and internally trying to calm her tears. She wasn't crying as bad as she had been an hour ago, really. It's just that once she had started thinking about the nightmare and Voldemort and Harry…_Oh God, and Harry_…Ginny couldn't help but burst out in tears. 

            Her tears had since almost subsided, but unfortunately her fears had not. She wasn't sure if they ever would. Not while Voldemort still lived. 

            For now she'd just push her fears to the side and act as if nothing were wrong. It was an act she'd been practicing for months now. Ginny sighed. Maybe someday it would really work.

            Slowly she pushed herself up from her current sitting position and brushed the dirt off her robes. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and took a few deep breaths trying to compose herself.

_            You'd think this would get a little easier._

            In late August Ginny had come to the conclusion that it wouldn't get easier, at least not while Harry was around. After months of living through the nightmare night after night, Ginny had thought she was almost at the point where she could accept it. That is, until Harry had showed up at the Burrow a few days before they were all to leave for Hogwarts. Then everything had started to go downhill. 

            It wasn't Harry's fault, you see. He'd just wanted to visit to visit the Burrow and see Ron like he had the four previous summers. He didn't know that Ginny's mood was thrown into a turmoil at his appearance and that her acceptance of the situation had relapsed to a rather dismal and disheartening point. He also didn't know that Ginny had quite blamed him for the way she'd been feeling at that point.

            If he had, the occurrences at the Burrow the week before leaving for Hogwarts would have made a lot more sense. 

            During that week, Ginny had done everything from ignore Harry, to glare at him, to suddenly hug him like he was going off on some extended vacation. Harry had been rather thrown off by Ginny's whirlwind of moods. It was a fairly confusing time for the both of them. 

            However, by the end of the week Ginny had come up with a temporary solution. She'd started spending all of her time near the river by her house. That way she didn't have to deal with all of her Harry-induced emotions. She also liked the sound of the water. She had started coming out here the summer after first year. It had worried her family a bit that she was going off by herself. One morning Ginny's mum sat her down by the kitchen table and asked her where she went off to every morning. Ginny had explained about her spot by the river and her need for peace and solitude every once in a while. Mrs. Weasley, who had probably been remembering "the incident", said with tears in her eyes that she understood the need for peace and solitude in a crazy house like this. She had hugged Ginny and kissed her on the forehead before going outside to do some gardening. 

            From that point on, whenever Ginny needed to think about something without distractions, or just relax and get away from Gred and Forge's "product testing", she went to her spot. And that spot had been her sanctuary for the last three days of Harry's visit. It had actually been quite productive, as she had brought the last of her homework outside with her. 

            Her spot here at school by the lake reminded Ginny of her little sanctuary by the river back at home. And thinking of home made Ginny feel safe. Safety was what she needed right now, even if it was an illusion. The youngest Weasley thought of her home and smiled.

            Now that she was feeling a little more calm, Ginny decided that she was ready to go in. She couldn't waste more time out here anyway. She had too much to do. The term had only started a few weeks ago, but Ginny was already falling behind. Her mind was always wandering in class, she couldn't concentrate on homework, not to mention the fact that she was dead tired. Maybe Rowena could help her catch up. They were in a lot of the same classes. 

            Ginny pulled back the sleeve of her robe to reveal an old-fashioned wizarding timepiece. With one tap of her wand the watch spoke. 

            "You've missed dinner again, dear," it said in a motherly tone of voice.

Ginny sighed.

_            Oh, bother…now I'm going to have to sneak something from the kitchens. _

            She started back towards the castle and pulled her cloak more tightly around her as a particularly chilly burst of wind kicked up. 

_            I hope this cold spell is gone by the time Quidditch starts next week._

            As Ginny neared the castle she made a vow to go ask Lavender about that tanning charm and possibly others that could hide her pale appearance. She didn't need to start attracting attention right now. She also decided to go to the library that night and see if she could find anything that might keep her dreams from coming true.

            Ginny heard a noise in the distance and looked up to see Harry Potter running towards her. Wiping her cheeks one last time she mentally prepared herself to talk him.

            "Hey Ginny! We were looking all over for you," Harry said, slightly out of breath.

_            We? Who was looking for me?_

            "What's going on Harry?" Ginny asked.

            "Well," Harry paused for a moment before continuing, "Me and Ron and Hermione are going to have an exploding snap tournament and we wanted you to play."

            Ginny's first thought was that Harry Potter was the worst liar on the entire planet. He wouldn't look her quite in the eye and seemed inordinately concerned with the grass at his feet. However, as curious as Ginny was as to why Harry was lying to her about something, she had more important things to worry about.

            "No thanks, Harry," Ginny said as she brushed past him, "I have too much to do tonight." 

            Ginny passed Harry and started back to the castle. A few seconds later she felt a hand grab her arm and turned around to see Harry looking at her anxiously.

            "Ginny," he started. 

            Ginny wondered if Harry was going to continue with that silly story about an exploding snap tournament. He opened his mouth and promptly shut it again. Ginny noticed that he had slight creases in forehead as if he had been worrying too much lately. Ginny thought about asking him what he was so worried about, but then she remembered that she was supposed to be distancing herself from Harry, not getting closer to him. It was harder than she thought it would be.

            "I, um, I was wondering if I could walk you back to the tower."

            If Ginny didn't know better, then she might've thought that Harry looked a little nervous that she would say no. 

            "Sure." They were heading back to the same place anyway. It would've been strange to say no.

            They reached the castle doors a moment later. Harry stepped in front of her and held the door open as Ginny stepped inside.

            "Thanks," Ginny said quietly as she walked into the corridor. 

            "You're welcome," Harry replied. 

            Formalities dispensed with, both students went silent as they continued on their way to Gryffindor tower. The lanterns in the hallway gave light to the early evening while also casting abstract shadows on the walls. The sun had completely set by now and Ginny could see the first twinkling stars through the large Hogwarts windows. They were beautiful, but somehow seemed more fragile than usual. _Like me,_ she thought softly.


	8. Searching for a Smile

A/N:  There was a lot of now AU stuff in this chapter.  It would've taken a lot of work to change it any more than I have so I've just left most of it in and I hope you don't mind.  I'm sure it'll be enjoyable all the same.  J

***********

_"Ginny knew that all she ever wanted, but could never have, was standing here in front of her, after hours, holding her arm and daring her to look at him."_

_************_

            The noise of Harry and Ginny's feet on the marble floor echoed throughout the hallway.  Harry glanced over at Ginny for the third time in as many minutes.  He opened his mouth to talk and then abruptly shut it again.  Ginny looked like she was off in her own world and Harry didn't feel like interrupting, especially since he would probably end up saying something stupid.  

            _Exploding snap tournament?__  What was I thinking?_

The object of Harry's concern was looking out the window into the darkness, seemingly deep in thought as the firelight from the lanterns glinted off her hair.  It reminded Harry of the shining Sparkle Wine that Mrs. Weasley let him and Ron have a sip of last Christmas at Grimmauld Place.  

            That Christmas had been great.  Even with all the hell he'd been going through, he'd finally had the chance to spend the holiday with a family that loved him.  It had made all the difference.   

            The most amazing thing was Christmas morning.  For a boy that had never even gotten a Christmas present until he went to Hogwarts, the morning that probably seemed normal to the Weasleys was an unfamiliar wonder.  

            Harry had awoken to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking.  It smelled wonderful.  He had been just about to open his eyes when Ron started shaking him.

            "Harry!  Wake up!" Ron had shouted, "Breakfast is almost ready and I don't want Fred and George eating everything before we get down there."

            Christmas was the only day of the year in which Ron ever got up earlier than Harry.  On every other of the 364 days of the year, at least as far as Harry knew, Ron was a terror to try and wake up.  At school Harry'd often had to physically drag Ron out of bed in order to get to their classes on time.

            After being woken up, Harry slowly got out of bed.  He saw that Ron, who was impatiently waiting for him, was staying in his pajamas and decided to do the same.  He'd taken a quick look in the mirror to try and fix his hair ('Don't worry about it sleepy, you look just fine'), and continued toward the door with Ron.  At the door, Ron had stopped and turned to him smiling.

            "Happy Christmas Harry."

"Same to you Ron."   

            With that said, the two boys had trudged downstairs for a breakfast that rivaled the Sorting Feast at Hogwarts.  Like Ron had predicted, the twins were already there eating as much as possible while, at the same time, Mrs. Weasley tried to lecture them for not waiting to eat until the entire family was seated.  When everyone, consisting of Harry, Remus, Sirius, and all the Weasleys except Percy, Bill, and Charlie (who were away on work), was seated breakfast officially commenced.  It was a raucous affair.

Everyone was talking and laughing and eating and smiling.  Mrs. Weasley and Remus were happily having a discussion about Christmas's past.  Fred and George were trying to sneak a few suspicious looking pieces of bacon onto Sirius's plate and Ron was trying to tell his mum that they should scrap tradition next year and open presents first.  Sirius was too excited about the festivities to notice Fred and George.  He was instead involved a lighthearted conversation with Ginny and Mr. Weasley about Muggle music (Mr. Weasley had brought a Muggle radio home to the Burrow the summer before). 

Harry had noticed that Sirius's taste was entirely confined to classic rock, while Ginny tended toward popular music.  He hadn't been able to categorize Mr. Weasley's taste as it was eclectic and somewhat odd.  

Harry spent most of breakfast listening and observing.  By the end of the meal Ron had failed to convince Mrs. Weasley that presents should come before a hearty breakfast and Sirius had started sporting multi-colored polka dots during a monologue about the cultural importance of air guitar.  All in all, it was quite an enjoyable breakfast. 

            Once breakfast was finished they moved into the living room to open presents.  A large but wispy looking Christmas tree was standing in the corner of the room by the couch and being held up straight by magic. Underneath were piles upon piles of brightly colored and gaudily wrapped presents. Harry had sat down on the couch and was soon joined by Ron and Fred. George tried to squish in also, but Fred pushed him and he ended up sitting on the floor next to Ginny. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat in an old love seat on the other side of the room and Remus sat in the recliner by the hearth.  Sirius got a rickety wooden chair that Bill had made a few years back. 

            Harry had expected everyone to get their presents and just start opening them. That's how it had always been at Hogwarts. Instead each family member got up one by one, retrieved a present, and set it in a pile in front of a smiling Ginny. When Ron sat back down he had turned to Harry.

            "Youngest always goes first," he said with a roll of his eyes. It was one of those traditions that Ron would've loved if he had been the youngest instead of the second youngest. 

            "Ours first! Ours first!" Fred and George were jumping up and down in anticipation. 

            Ginny cautiously picked up lumpy neon green package with label that read "To Ickle Ginnykins, From Gred and Forge". 

            "Should I be worried?" Ginny had asked.

            "Not a bit," George replied. Both boys looked almost convincingly innocent. Almost.

            When Ginny opened the package it had been almost, but not quite what everyone had been expecting. There had been a loud explosion of course, along with confetti, and a flying assortment of suspicious pieces of candy. Ginny also had neon green hair that matched the package, but she hadn't noticed. She was too entranced by the remaining contents of the box. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled out a sky blue circular object. She smiled widely and then got off the ground, ran over to Fred and George, and hugged them both at the same time.

            "Thank you so much! How did you know? How did you get one?" Ginny's voice squealed in excitement.

            "We have connections dear sister of ours," Fred said, trying to sound mysterious.

            "That and we snuck a peak at your secret Christmas list," George said with a wink,       "You know the one that also included a certain per-"

            Ginny blushed and gave him a quick slug to the arm.

            "Shut up, there is no such list!"

            "She can be quite violent at times," Ron said quietly to Harry, "Don't have a clue where she gets it from."

            "Only kidding Gin," Fred said, "We heard you talking about wanting one the other day in the kitchen with mum."

            "But we weren't joking about our connections," said George.

            "Yeah, we'd tell you how we got that fabulous present for you," the two were standing in front of their very confused family and had just pulled out matching sunglasses.

            "But then we'd have to kill you," George stated as he put on the sunglasses. 

            "Weasley," Fred said.

            "Fred and George Weasley," George continued.

            "Secret agents extrordinare," they said together. 

            And with that, the twins struck a pose complete with hands as fake guns and then moved stealthily out of the room while humming the James Bond theme song.

            "See what happens when you let those boys watch Muggle films," Mrs. Weasley was saying to her husband. Mr. Weasley was attempting to look serious, but was close to bursting out in chuckles.

            "I wonder when they'll remember that present opening is still going on," Ron had said to Harry. Harry in turn had asked what the twins had gotten Ginny.

            "Oh, I was actually surprised by that too. It's like a muggle radio, plays muggle songs, but you can charm it to play whatever song you'd like to hear whenever you'd like to hear it. Have to pay for the charms too though. It's brand new, just came out. Don't know how Fred and George got one."

            "So it's like a CD player?"

            "I guess." There was a pause. "What's a CD player?"

Harry turned his attention from the memories of his first real family Christmas and back to Ginny.  He suddenly saw a bittersweet smile touch her face and turn into a frown.  It didn't look right.  Ginny was the type of girl who should have a smile on her face.  

            Or at least Harry thought she was that type of girl.  It suddenly came to his attention that he didn't know Ginny all that well at all.  They had known each other for years now, but...

            _We don't know each other, _Harry's mind offered.  

            That, it seemed, was the crux of the matter and the reason that Harry was having trouble thinking of a way to start a conversation with his best friend's little sister.  Not that Harry and Ginny had never spoken to each other before, in fact last year they had become...well, acquaintances I guess you could say.

The fact was that Harry didn't feel like starting up superficial small talk at the moment.  That was what most of his conversation with Ginny had consisted of in the past six years.  It felt rather unsatisfying.

            On the other hand, he couldn't very well bring up the real reason why he had been looking for her and wanted her to come back to the common room.  Harry didn't know Ginny that well, but he could imagine that her reaction to the upcoming intervention would involve yelling and storming off somewhere.  It left the conversation options a little limited when you couldn't bring up the one thing you wanted to talk to a person about and didn't want to drown in too-polite small talk.    

            Harry noticed that Ginny's eyes had taken on a haunted look and suddenly felt desperate to take that look away.

            "So, what classes are you taking?"  _So much for not dealing with small talk._

            Ginny's eyes lost their glazed appearance at the sudden question and she looked over at Harry in surprise.  His bright green eyes had the same concerned look on them, but with a slight edge that hadn't been there earlier.  He ran his wand hand through his untidy black hair a moment later and Ginny realized he was waiting for some sort of response.  _What was his question again...oh!_

Harry could almost feel the confused thoughts running through her head and decided that opening his mouth had been a stupid idea.  Silence was better anyway.  _Oh, why is the common room so far away?  _He was just about to say nevermind and forget the whole thing when Ginny looked up at him and made eye contact.

            "Divination, Muggle Studies, Charms, Arithmancy, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ginny blurted out.  She looked a little taken aback by her outburst at first, but then sighed and smiled. "Oh, and Transfiguration and Potions of course."

            It couldn't hurt to have one simple conversation with Harry, right?  She could go right back to avoiding him once they reached the common room.  

            "Wow," Harry started, "that's a lot of…hey, how'd you get out of History of Magic, it's required up 'til 7th year isn't it?"

            "Oh that, I passed out of it." Ginny said, feeling slightly more comfortable with the conversation.  This was a subject she could handle.  "Well, this year and 6th year to be exact."

            Harry felt rather confused.  "But how?"

            "Oh, don't look so shocked, I'm smarter than I let on.  To tell you the truth I was surprised that you and Ron didn't try and take the exam, especially after Hermione passed.  I'm sure she would've helped you study.  She sure helped me.  I wouldn't have known Orlin the Obscene from Grolin the Gruesome if she hadn't quizzed me for six weeks straight last term." 

            Harry's mind suddenly went back to that odd period last term right after Ron and Hermione had gotten into a huge fight and had stopped speaking to each other.  He remembered noticing that that Hermione and Ginny had been spending a lot more time with each other.  They went down to the library a lot and had been doing an inordinate amount of whispering.  They had seemed like they'd been having a lot of fun and Harry had often wanted to go over and talk to them, but figured they were talking about some sort of girly thing that he couldn't be a part of.  

So instead, he'd had to sit around for seven weeks listening to Ron mope about Hermione.  He'd wanted to be there for his obliviously love-struck friend, but Ron's blabbering became annoying as hell as soon as Harry realized his friend wasn't going to do anything about it.  

He remembered sitting in the common room one night playing chess with Ron.  The fire was blazing, but it didn't seem to warm the empty loneliness in Harry's heart.  Ron was going on about Krum and Justin Finch-Fletchly and frankly any other male that had talked to Hermione in her 16 years of existence, well besides Harry of course.  Although Harry didn't doubt that if Ron had someone else to talk to about this sort of thing, that his name would be on the list too.  

Ron was so worked up that Harry was winning against him for the first time in his life.  Ron had been off on another tangent and had just gotten to the point when he started to mumble under his breath when Harry looked over to the other end of the common room.  Descending the stairs that led to the girl's dormitory were Hermione and Ginny, both clutching armfuls of books and chattering happily.  

Harry looked closer and saw the quick worried glance that Ginny shot towards their corner of the common room.  Her brown eyes noticed the irritated redhead on the couch arguing with his chess pieces and she turned back towards Hermione and started talking with increased vigor.  She quickly and expertly guided her friend toward the portrait hole.  Even though the common room was relatively crowded that day, no one but Harry had noticed the weighted sigh that Ginny had breathed before she exited the common room, glad that a crisis between her brother and her friend had been averted.

"So that's what you two were doing!" Harry exclaimed, "I'd thought you'd been off doing girl-talk or something."

"Girl-talk?"  Ginny was surprised.  She was sure that Hermione had told them all about how she'd found out about the test from Professor Binns and passed out of the last required year of History of Magic.

"I mean, if you were talking about …whatever, not that I'd have a problem with it or anything," Harry was fairly sure that he was blushing now and was positive that he was on his way to babbling.  Ginny's revelation had thrown him for a loop. "I remember thinking that it was good that Hermione found a girl she could talk to.  I'm sure she needs it sometimes when Ron and I are being gits."

Ginny gave him a quiet smile.  Her eyes sparkled and Harry had the feeling that she was thinking of a certain time when he had Ron were gits.  

Harry would probably be surprised to know how right he was.  She was thinking about Valentine's Day last year.  

The night before Valentine's Day Hermione had quietly admitted her feelings for Ron during one of their late-night chats in the girl's dormitory and afterwards Ginny had ruefully admitted her continued feelings for The Boy Who Was Oblivious in spite of the fact that she was seeing Michael Corner.  The two girls had shared their wishes and hopes for the following day and for the future.  The next day Ginny had woken up feeling refreshed and optimistic.  However, the day hadn't ended up as the two had hoped.  Instead of the Ron becoming a romantic overnight, he hadn't seemed to even realize what day it was.  As for Harry, he'd been with Cho Chang at the time and wasn't about to spare her a glace on Valentine's Day.  Michael had gotten Ginny a red rose and some chocolates, which was really very sweet, but she knew that things weren't going as they should when she'd had to paste a happy smile on and ignore that she'd just seen Harry walk in to Madame Puddlefoot's with Cho Chang.  On top of that, Ron and Harry had both seemed off in their own little world about something.  It had annoyed Ginny to no end that she wasn't being included in whatever was going on, but she was used to it.  Truth was, it was probably better that she hadn't been included considering what she was dealing with now.  It was Hermione, though, who really became furious.  Being the boys' friend for five years gave her the right to be.  She had ended up calling Ron an idiot to his face right in front of everyone in the common room and then running up to her room.  Ginny had taken one look at Ron and Harry's confused faces and then ran after her friend.  The sad thing was that the two boys probably hadn't had any idea that they were doing anything wrong.

"I just can't believe she didn't tell us about that.  She knows how much I'd love to get out of that class."  Harry couldn't seem to believe that Hermione had failed to mention that she'd passed out of a class.  She was usually bursting at the seams about stuff like that.

"Well, I'm sure she had other things to think about at the moment.  You know," Ginny said conspiratorially, "Like my brother."

 Harry looked at Ginny in shock.  "How'd you…?"

"How'd I know?  Well, I mean it _is_ pretty obvious.  Personally, I wish they'd both admit it and be over with it.  It's a bit annoying really.  Ron can be rather dense at times."  Ginny shook her head at the situation Hermione and Ron were in.

"You're telling me," Harry agreed, "Those weeks that the two of you were secretly off discovering a way to pass out of the most boring class in Hogwarts, I was listening to Ron talk about Hermione and complain about every bloke she's ever spoken to."

Ginny laughed at this.  Harry liked the sound of it and decided then that he didn't hear it quite enough and would like to more often.

"I can see Ron doing that.  It's probably a lot like when he complained after Fred and George started taking away our babysitter's attention.  Her name was Lorrie.  I think they all kinda fancied her."

Ginny smiled at the memories and saw Harry smiling back at her.  It was a nice feeling.  She hadn't felt this happy in a long time and who knows the last time she'd actually laughed like she had a second ago.  The sick irony of it all, however, was that the person who made her feel this way was the one she had to stay away from.  In fact, she was probably putting him in danger right now.  But for some reason, Ginny couldn't push Harry away just yet.  It was their first real conversation.  Maybe she had been overcome by a sudden bout of selfishness or insanity, but Ginny felt that if maybe she could hold on to this moment a little longer, she could somehow make it through all the loneliness ahead.

"You know," Harry said, "I actually won against him twice in chess during those weeks because he was so messed up over Hermione."

Ginny looked up at Harry and couldn't help it when her mouth pulled into a grin at the gleeful sparkle in his emerald eyes.  

"Ah," Ginny said with a teasing smirk, "Well, now that you've beaten my brother you should try playing me sometime."

"It would be an honor," Harry replied jokingly.  He turned more serious when he noticed Ginny's suddenly somber expression.  "Gin, what's up?"

_I won't be able to play him in chess, now will I?_  Ginny's mind had immediately reminded her of her current circumstances after she'd made the previous comment.  From there her mind had made the same jump that it had made every night since she'd realized he dreams weren't ordinary nightmares.  The jump to the list of things she and Harry could never do.  _No chess with Harry, no talking with Harry, no helping Harry smile when he's feeling down, no hugging Harry, no kissing Harry, no loving Harry…_

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," she answered abruptly.

"Gin, why can't you just tell me what's wrong?"  Harry was frustrated.  She wouldn't tell him earlier and she wouldn't tell him now.  She needs help, why doesn't she just ask for it?  _The same reason you never want to tell Dumbledore what's going on,_ his inner voice reasoned.  

"Don't call me that!" Ginny hissed.  _It sounds too intimate, it means you're too close. _"And I just can't tell you what's wrong, okay?"  Ginny couldn't keep the slight desperation from her voice.  "It's for your own good," she whispered under her breath as she turned away.

They walked in silence for a few moments, their footsteps echoing in the corridors.  They were getting closer to Gryffindor Tower.  Ginny figured they were going to stay silent until they reached the common room, but Harry had other plans.  About a hundred yards from the portrait hole Ginny felt Harry's hand grab her arm.  She stopped in surprise and turned around to face him.  They were alone standing in the hallway, but for all Ginny knew, there could've been a stampede and she wouldn't have noticed.  She felt the warmth of Harry's hand on her arm and felt as that same warmth started to spread throughout her body.  Ginny knew that all she ever wanted, but could never have, was standing here in front of her, after hours, holding her arm and daring her to look at him.  Her eyes started their upward journey with trepidation.  His neck, his chin, his lips, and then finally, his eyes.  Ginny saw them and they locked with hers.  _If only I could stay here forever._  Harry's eyes had a determined look in them that she usually only saw on the Quidditch pitch.

"Ginny," he said, careful not to shorten her name, "I know what it's like to want to keep problems to yourself so no one else will find out.  I know what it's like to have problems that seem impossible."  He was still holding her arm and had a more serious look than even Ginny, who had long ago memorized his expressions, was used to seeing.  He looked as though a part of him was remembering every problem, every encounter with Voldemort.  

"And," he continued, "I know what it feels like when you think you can't talk to anyone about what's going on.  But I think you _should_ talk to somebody about whatever it is that's bothering you.  Talking about your problems can help a lot.  And I'm here if you want to talk to me.  But at least talk to somebody.  It's tearing you up inside." 

Ginny was speechless.  She wanted to rail at him that he didn't understand what it felt like, that he couldn't possibly know how alone and helpless she felt, but she knew that in reality he'd probably understand better than anyone.  She wanted to hug him for noticing her and then berate herself for not concealing her problem better.  In that moment, all she wanted to do was tell Harry Potter everything.  

"And Ginny," Harry continued, "I'm not going to pressure you into telling me or anyone else what's going on, but I'm going to keep an eye out for you.  And you better be careful."

Ginny felt like she was going to burst into tears at that very moment.  She was sure that her eyes were all watery and bloodshot and that her nose was red and that her fair skin was somewhat splotchy.  How could she stay away from him when he was everything she ever wanted?  

Harry looked down at the red-headed girl in front of him.  He hoped what he said had been all right.  He hadn't wanted to make her cry.  He'd hoped to make her feel better.  She was looking at the ground and wiping her eyes.  She sniffled and then looked up at him.  Her bloodshot brown eyes were tear-filled and Harry didn't think he'd ever felt more protective over another human being in his entire life.  What did one do with an almost crying girl though?  Harry, who hadn't dealt with this much in his life, took a guess and hoped he was right.  He took Ginny Weasley in his arms and hugged her.


	9. All Cried Out

_"Every year since first year she had tried to be strong, in hopes of forgetting the one time when she had been truly weak"_

_**********_

            Ginny Weasley was looking at the current situation from a slightly detached point of view. Harry had just hugged her, was still hugging her. Things like that didn't happen everyday. 

            Scratch that. 

            Things like this never happened to her, except for in a few rare and pleasant dreams.  Back when she used to have pleasant dreams of course.

_            Is he actually hugging me?_ She felt like pinching herself to make sure this wasn't a dream. The world seemed hazier and clearer all at the same time. _Is this real?_

            The shock of the moment started to wear off and Ginny slowly became aware of the feeling of Harry's arms around her, the feeling of the tears that were slowing starting to run down her face, the feeling of her cheek against the rough fabric of Harry's robe. And most importantly of all, Ginny slowly became aware that Harry Potter was actually, truly, honest to god, _hugging_ her. 

            His arms held her tightly, as though he were afraid of what would happen if he let go. Ginny absently realized that her arms were now around Harry's waist, drawing him to her. She was the happiest she had ever been and the saddest all at once. 

_            Why does my life have to be so messed up? _

            Ginny thought about Harry, memories flashing through her head. Memories of that day at King's Cross when a shy black-haired boy had asked how to get to Platform nine and three-quarters. Memories of the mortification on Valentine's Day first year when Fred and George had sent that wretched Valentine. Memories of waking up in Chamber of Secrets and seeing Harry sitting beside her covered in blood and dirt and dying from the basilisk's venom, all the while reassuring her that everything was okay. Memories of his smile and his laugh. Countless memories of Harry lying unconscious in the infirmary beds. Memories of all the heart-wrenching pain he went through that she could somehow feel as well. Memories of all the dreadful, agonizing moments when she thought that she'd lost him and would lose a piece of herself as well. Memories of her dreams and the future they foretold.

            Ginny started sobbing uncontrollably. She cried for herself and she cried for Harry. For the unfair circumstances that they'd both had to endure in their young lives. She cried for the lives that Voldemort destroyed and the dreams that he shattered. She cried over the feeling that she was losing her only chance to truly love. Ginny knew she could never give her heart to anyone else. She cried for the choices that she had to make and the lies she had to tell and tug of war that was ripping her soul apart. Ginny poured out her heart in tears of longing, pain, and despair.

            And all the while, Harry held her steadily, rubbing her back in slow up and down motions and resting his cheek against her vibrant red hair. He murmured quiet assurances while her tears drenched his robes. 

            Harry'd never seen Ginny cry like this before. He'd seen her embarrassed, he'd seen her frustrated, he'd seen her angry, and he'd seen her with tears in her eyes, but he'd never seen her cry with this amount of pain and emotion. Harry could almost feel her emotions, they were so powerful. Even in her weakness, Ginny was strong. 

            Slowly Ginny's tears started to subside. Her face was still pressed up against Harry's chest and she tried to bury her head deeper as though doing so would close out the world. Still clinging to him, she released a deep shuddering breath and Harry hugged her closer as if to reassure himself that she was all right. Taking another shaky breath, Ginny tilted her head upwards. 

            When he hugged Ginny, it _felt _right. That's the only way that Harry knew to describe what he was feeling. And then when she tilted her head up towards his and smiled, well that felt even better. It made him feel like he'd helped somehow and it made him feel special. It wasn't The Boy Who Lived kind of special though, it was another kind entirely. A better kind.

            Ginny after she'd cried was an interesting sight. Her eyes and nose were red and puffy, as well as her lips. Tear tracks streamed down her face and her skin-tone was uneven. She looked entirely fragile, but also as though a weight had been lifted off her. Her brown eyes seemed brighter and clearer. She looked amazing. 

            At Ginny's hesitant smile, Harry broke into a grin. A last single tear was trailing down her face and he brushed it away softly with the pad of his thumb and then tucked behind her ear the stray strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face. 

            "Feeling better?" he asked softly.

            "Uh huh," Ginny assented as she drew in another unsteady breath. 

            "Good, I'm glad," Harry said. 

            They stood looking at each other for a moment before slowly untangling their arms and stepping away from each other. They both turned away and looked in the direction of Gryffindor Tower trying to avoid each other's gazes. Neither of them moved from the spots they were standing in. 

            Harry brought his hand through his hair and wondered if he should say anything else. He didn't want to say anything that would make her cry again, but he felt like he should say _something_. 

_            Why am I feeling so bloody nervous? _

            Ginny brought her arms up to hug herself and counteract the loss she felt at the absence of Harry's arms. Thoughts were flying through her head at light speed. _Did that really happen? Did I really let that happen? Oh god, that felt nice. _Ginny brought up her right hand to tuck a few unruly strands of hair behind her ear and sighed. At least it had been nice to let out all those tears. It shouldn't have happened in the first place though. She stole a quick glance at Harry, who was pushing his wire-framed glasses back up his nose. _Whatever happened to avoiding him,_ her inner voice questioned. 

            Ginny paused to think about why she had let her plan falter. She should never have let Harry walk her back, as tempting and as harmless as it had seemed. Why hadn't she just stuck with her plan? She should've had the will-power to avoid this situation. 

_            I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was._

            This thought brought Ginny's grim emotional state from distressed to downright despondent. Every year since first year she had tried to be strong, in hopes of forgetting the one time when she had been truly weak. Strength was the virtue that Ginny craved desperately and the one she had almost fooled herself into believing she had. _No matter, _she thought painfully as she tried to shake her head of all her failings, _as soon as we reach the common room it's back to plan A. It's no loss if a girl like me doesn't have will-power, so long as Harry doesn't get hurt. _

            Ginny slowly came to the realization that both she and Harry had been quiet for quite a few moments. He was looking at her again with those piercing green eyes of his as though she were a puzzle he was wanted to solve. If she weren't careful, someday he would.

            "Stop it, would ya?" Ginny said quietly to the boy by her side.

            "Stop what?" His eyes cleared and he focused in on Ginny.

            "Stop looking at me like that, like I'm some sort of spell you haven't quite figured out yet." 

            Had he been looking at her like that? Harry had been thinking to ask if she wanted to continue back to the common room when he had caught the look on Ginny's face. She had look…_haunted._

_            What kinds of things are going on in that girl's head? _

            Harry paused. Okay, so maybe he did want to figure her out. Was that a crime? 

            "I don't know what you're talking about it," he said loftily. Just because he admitted it to himself didn't mean he was going to tell her. 

            "Fine," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes as she started toward the common room.

            Harry caught up with her in a few long strides. Was she mad at him?

            Ginny ignored Harry and let her eyes wander over to the windows, hoping to see if the stars had been affected by her fall from grace. Instead, she came face to face with her reflection.

            Harry noticed that had Ginny stopped, and looked in her direction. She was staring at Hogwarts' large glass windows. Harry loved this time of night. When the stars were shinning and the moon was glowing but it wasn't yet time to surrender to dreams. That's what it was, surrendering. Harry had given up trying to fight his nightmares long ago. He couldn't change the contents of them, and sleep deprivation took too much of a toll on his body. A dreamless sleep potion was out of the question. He didn't want to become dependent on an addictive potion. So he surrendered. Every night. He felt like he was losing a fight every time he laid down within the scarlet covers of his bed and drew together the curtains. But in this time of night, the time between classes and Quidditch practice and homework and sleep, he could feel somewhat free. He could look at the stars and wish that he was one of them. For a moment in time he could simply be a boy, instead of having to be The Boy Who Lived.

            He turned his gaze to where Ginny was looking and was surprised to see her reflection staring back at him. The distinctive redness of her hair was dimmed of course, as well as the features of her face. The reflection was somewhat transparent and Harry could see small stars shining through her crimson locks. It looked like she had diamonds sparkling in her hair. 

            "I look dreadful, don't I?" Ginny asked as she spun around to face him. 

_            Dreadful? Where could she have gotten that idea? _Harry looked at Ginny and was surprised not to see the shining stars in her hair. She was still a little red around the eyes and nose and Harry could see the remains of tear tracks shining on her checks, but she didn't look dreadful, far from it actually.

            "You look fine," he replied.

            "Well," Ginny said while eyeing Harry as though she didn't entirely trust his opinion, "Do you mind if I go stop in the bathroom?"

            Ginny gestured vaguely to the bathroom across the hall. 

            "No. Go ahead."

            "You can head back without me," Ginny suggested with a hopeful lilt to her voice. The sooner she could get away from Harry, the better.

            "I'll stay here." 

            Ginny looked as if she wanted to argue with him. She looked at Harry closely and then sighed as if deciding that arguing would take too much energy. She gave a slight shake of her head and another sigh before turning towards the girl's bathroom.

            As Ginny headed off towards the bathroom, Harry wondered if she ever went in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the 2nd floor. Personally, he tried to avoid it at all costs. It reminded him of 2nd year and the Chamber of Secrets. _I wonder if Ginny thinks about it much anymore. _

            Harry tried to brush away the memories of seeing Ginny lifeless on the floor that always surfaced when he thought about the Chamber. He had become more skilled at brushing away the memories over the years, or at least bracing himself against them. If only it helped. _There are far too many bad memories for me to brush them all away._


	10. The Promise

********

"Ron!" 

Hermione put the book she was reading down in her lap and looked over at her red-headed friend.  "Will you _please_ stop pacing?  It's driving me insane!"

Ron stopped and threw his hands up in the air.  He looked like he wouldn't stop pacing for long.

"Why did we send Harry to go find her anyway?  We should all be looking for her."

Hermione sighed.  "Ron, we already went over this.  It was smarter for only Harry to go looking for her because: One," Hermione counted off the points on her fingers, "That way when she comes back to the castle, with or without Harry, we'll be here in the common room ready for her.  Two - Harry is going to look for her because you need to figure out what you're going to say to her.  We can't have you yelling at her.  You know she won't take it well."

Ron had taken up pacing again.  He was becoming increasingly frustrated.  Hermione made it sound like it was impossible for him to have a normal conversation with his sister.    

"You think I ever plan on yelling at her?" _Or you,_ he added silently.  "It just happens."

"Well, Ron," Hermione responded in quiet, but firm voice, "We're going to try and stop it from happening.  That's the whole point.  Now sit down!"

With a huff, Ron plopped down in the chair next to Hermione and crossed his arms.  

"Okay," he said resignedly, "What's your brilliant plan to keep me from botching up something else?"

"No need to get all snippy about it," Hermione retorted as she flipped to the first chapter of the book that sat in her lap, "And stop feeling sorry for yourself.  Here," Hermione said pointing to the chapter's title:  _Constructive Conversations - tactful ways to bring up personal problems in dialogue.  _

Ron leaned over the arm of his chair so he could see the book and rolled his eyes when he saw the title.

"How's that supposed to help?"

Hermione turned her gaze from the book to Ron.  Something in his clear blue eyes told her that he didn't mean to be obstinate.  He just didn't know how to handle himself in this sort of situation.  He'd obviously been trying to deal with his worries for Ginny on his own for a long time now.  Now that Hermione thought about it, it sounded like Ron had been in a sort of self-imposed denial about it from when school started until just recently.  He'd probably hoped that the problem was just going to disapparate on its own.  

_I just wish he wouldn't take it out on me._  

It reminded Hermione of something her mother used to say:  Sometimes when a person is hurting they lash out at the ones they care most about, because they know those people will still love them in the end.  

 "Ron, it's got some very useful suggestions.  You should really pay attention."

Ron caught the soft, pleading tone in Hermione's voice and nodded.  He knew he wasn't paying attention like he should, but how was he supposed concentrate when he didn't know what the hell was going on with his sister?

Hermione was looking at him curiously now, and Ron saw a flicker of understanding in her hazel eyes.  It was like she knew exactly what he was thinking.  _How does she know me so well?_

Deciding that he should at least try and listen to what Hermione had to say, he scooted his chair closer to hers until the chairs were touching.  Looking down at the book and then back up at Hermione, Ron sighed and opened his mouth.

"Okay.  What does this book say?"

"Well, here it says that the most important part of these sorts of conversations is that you don't accuse the other person of anything, that instead you focus on telling the person what you're feeling."  

Hermione had gone into academic mode.  She was pointing out important points in the chapter and talking about how they could help a lot when it came to the upcoming conversation with Ginny.  Ron was surprised that she wasn't taking notes.

He leaned closer to so he could see the book and couldn't help but notice how close he was to Hermione.  Her hair almost brushed his face and she smelled like some sort of flowery shampoo.  If he just tilted his head up towards hers…

"So you're supposed to use what they call 'I' messages so they don't feel like you're attacking them," Hermione continued.

Ron snapped his attention back to the words on the page.  Glancing at it briefly he realized that this wasn't the same page they'd started on.  _What is she talking about?  _Ron shook his head.  He was lost.

"What are these 'I' messages again?"  

He braced himself for a huff and an "Honestly Ron!" but all he got was a calm explanation.

"Well, it's like you would say, 'I'm worried about you,' instead of, 'What's wrong with you?'  Or at least that's how the book explains it." 

Deciding that she wanted more information, Hermione started flipping through the book to find a more concrete definition or example.  Her fingers flew deftly across the pages while she looked with a single-minded focus.  

Ron was thinking about what Hermione said.  He still wasn't sure if it would help the conversation, but he would at least try.

"Okay," Ron said simply.

Hermione looked up from the book.  "Okay what?"

"Okay, I'll try these 'I' messages or whatever they are.  It seems simple enough."  

At Ron's assent, Hermione smiled.  It was a soft, sweet smile that twinkled in her eyes and made her face look bright.  Ron took a moment to take in the way his best friend looked.  Her now-perfect teeth were shining and her hair looked incredibly soft.  Ron wished he could reach out and touch it.  And the way that her lips curved into a smile made them look very inviting.  The temptation to kiss her was almost too much for Ron to bear.  Suffice to say, his feelings toward Hermione at the moment were slightly more than friendly.

Ron shook those thoughts out of his head.  It wouldn't do him any good to go fantasizing about Hermione when nothing could happen.  He could never take a chance like that and risk losing her friendship.  What if she didn't like him?  It would completely wreck their easygoing, yet volatile, relationship if he were to do something as stupid as make a move on her.  And on the off-chance that she did like him like he liked her, what's to stop them from getting into some huge fight and breaking up in the future?  Either way he would lose her, and Ron wanted to prevent that at all costs.  Even if he couldn't hug her and kiss her like he wanted to, at least she would still be around.

"Thanks Ron," Hermione said gently, "I mean, I know that you want to be out looking for Ginny, but this'll help too.  I promise.  I'm glad you're willing to give it a try."

"Anytime," Ron replied, "So where do we start?"

"Well, how about we start with what you're going to say when she first walks in."  

********

_What's taking her so bloody long?_ Harry thought as he waited outside the girls bathroom a good fifteen minutes later.  

Walking up to the door, he put his hand on the wood and slowly pushed it open a crack.

"Ginny?"

No response.

"Ginny?" Harry spoke louder this time but still didn't receive a response.

Weighing his options carefully, he decided that he was probably going to have to go into the girl's bathroom.  Not that he'd never been in a girl's bathroom before, but going into one when it didn't involve brewing illegal potions or saving someone's life seemed decidedly wrong.  _I wish Hermione was here.  She's a girl, she's allowed to go in here._

Taking a deep breath and praying that he and Ginny were the only ones around, Harry pushed the door all the way open.  

The first thing that Harry noticed was the sound of running water.  Gingerly stepping inside, he looked over toward the sinks.  Ginny was standing in front of one of the sinks with her hands touching the edge of the porcelain, looking in the mirror and just letting the water run.

 Harry slowly started walking in Ginny's direction.  She was starting to scare him.

"Ginny?"

Ginny heard Harry call her again and let out a barely restrained sigh.  She had hoped that he would just leave for the common room if she kept him waiting.  

No such luck.

Then, when he'd called her name earlier she had hoped that he would just leave when she didn't answer.  Apparently, he didn't take the hint, because he marched right on into the girl's bathroom as though he belonged here.  _Why couldn't he just leave?_  

Ginny had been perfectly fine until she had heard the door creaking open.  Or at least that's what she was trying to tell herself.  The redness of her eyes and nose had almost faded and she had started to convince herself that what had just happened, hadn't really.  That it was just a product of an exhausted overactive imagination.  And she had decided to stay in denial like that until she made it safely back to her dormitory.  

But now that bugger Harry Potter had to go and wreck a perfectly good delusion.  

Ginny closed her eyes, remembering for a second just how safe she had felt within his arms.  How for that split second she had allowed herself to be happy, until she'd remembered just how much she was risking for that second.  

Ginny sniffled and wiped at her eyes.  _Great, now I'm going to look a complete mess again just after I was getting to the point of looking decent._

"Here."

Ginny had to keep herself from jumping at the sound of Harry's voice.  She hadn't realized he was so close.

She looked over at the white handkerchief that Harry held out and slowly took it, careful that their fingers didn't brush.  

"Um, thanks Harry," she said as she briefly glanced up into his worried eyes before looking back down at the handkerchief.  

She wanted to joke around and say something like, 'So Harry, you don't seem like kind of boy to carry a handkerchief around, are you hiding any other big secrets?" but it would've been entirely inappropriate, not to mention her goal to stay as emotionally detached from him as possible.  

She looked at the handkerchief in her hand.  If it weren't for extenuating circumstances, this would've been an exceedingly sweet gesture that she would lock away in her mind with all of her other memories of Harry.  Instead, Ginny was doing her best to look at this as just a silly piece of fabric lent by a boy who doesn't like her, won't talk to her again after today, and just didn't want to be walking down the hall with a girl who looked a mess.  

It seemed to be working until Ginny turned the handkerchief over and saw the small cursive letters L.E. embroidered into one of the corners.  Lily Evans.

"Harry?" she questioned as she looked at him with wide eyes.  

She thought she saw a flash of pain in his eyes as he looked at the piece of white fabric in her hands.  When he looked up it was gone.

"Don't worry about using it or anything," he said lightly, "It has a self cleaning charm on it."

He was avoiding the question.  He had to know what question she'd asked even if she hadn't said it out loud.  He wasn't even looking her in the eyes.

"Works rather well too, even gets blood off," Harry said, forcing a laugh.

"Blood?"  Ginny felt rather faint.  Harry lending her something of his mother's was one thing, but just the thought of him and blood…

"Like skinned knees and stuff.  It's just, I'm rather accident prone."

Ginny thought of all the times that Harry had been to see Madame Pomfrey and couldn't help thinking that it wasn't being accident prone that had caused most of those trips to the infirmary.  

Looking at the boy who had kept her worried more in her life than she had ever needed or wanted to be, she realized that he was looking rather nervous and fidgety.  Feeling somewhat guilty that she'd basically been letting him perform a monologue, she opened her mouth to say something when he beat her too it.

"Listen, er, just keep it okay," he said suddenly.

_Keep it?_

Ginny waved the white in front of him.  

"But Harry!  It's your mu-" 

"I'm going back to the common room," he said cutting her off.  

Ginny opened her mouth again.

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said sharply.

Ginny, taken aback by Harry's tone of voice, shut her mouth and took a step back.  

"I mean," he gave a great sigh and looked at Ginny.  His emerald eyes were hoping for forgiveness.  "Look, I don't give things to people unless I mean it, so just…if you feel weird about it let's just say that you're keeping track of it for me until further notice."

Ginny was giving him a questioning look that was making him exceedingly nervous.  He didn't even know why he was currently offering to give his mum's old handkerchief to her.  He hadn't let it out of his sight since he found it in the Dursley's attic over the summer.  Why had he just tried to give it to Ginny?  She probably wouldn't even want it anyway.  He was just being stupid.  

Harry was about to take back the offer when Ginny looked him right in the eyes.  Looking right in other people's eyes often made Harry slightly uncomfortable, but he didn't feel uncomfortable looking into Ginny's chocolate brown ones.  Maybe it was because of those glints of gold that sparkled in her irises or the question in her eyes that he wanted more than anything to help her answer.  Or maybe it was because somehow, by looking in her eyes, he felt like Ginny might be the type of girl who could really understand him.  And with a little luck, he might be able to understand her.  

"I'll hold onto it for you," Ginny said quietly with an unsure look on her face as though she were worried she'd just made some kind of mistake.

"Okay," Harry said as an involuntary smile slid into place on his face.  "Let's head back to the common room."

Ginny just nodded and the two started walking.  When they got to the bathroom door Harry held it open for her and made some sort of joke about not wanting to get caught in the girl's loo and odds being against him.  She let out a hollow, forced sort of laugh and they continued walking down the corridor in silence.  Ginny was in her own world again.  Pondering the possible consequences of what she had just done.

Harry, in turn, was thinking about Ginny.  He was thinking about why he had given her one of the few things of his mother's that he had, wondering what was going on with her, and trying to understand how one person could show such range and depth of emotion in such a brief period of time.  He wondered what she was thinking about.  She was obviously deep in thought.  He wasn't even sure if she heard his weak joke or just laughed out of habit.  It wasn't her real laugh, that was sure.  He'd heard that earlier today and wasn't about to forget it.

They'd almost reached the portrait hole when Ginny tugged on Harry's arm, causing him to turn and face her.

"Harry," she started soft but intense, "I wanted to say…that is."

She looked down at where she was nervously clasping and unclasping her hands and then looked back up at Harry who was wondering where all this was going.

"I understand how sometimes you don't want to, or don't feel ready to talk about things."

_This was about how he'd snapped at her in the bathroom?  _He thought that had been settled.

"Well," she continued, "Then you'd understand better than anyone when someone can't talk about certain things to someone else."

_What was she talking about?_

"And you'd agree that in those situations that people shouldn't be pushed to talk about certain things, right?"

Her expression looked almost hopeful. 

"Yes, I suppose I'd agree," Harry replied hesitantly.

"Then Harry, if I promise never to push you, will you promise me the same thing?"

It seemed like a fair deal.  He hated when people pushed him to talk about things that he didn't want to talk about and he could understand how Ginny wouldn't like it either.  Come to think about it, it would be nice to have a friend who wouldn't push about things.  Ron and Hermione usually didn't, but there were times, especially since the end of last term…

Something was nagging at the back of Harry's memory trying to tell him that this might not be the best idea.  However, it was a little hard to think about that when Ginny, with her gleaming red hair and her warm eyes and her insecure smile, was looking up at him like he was the answer to all her problems.  

"Harry?" Ginny nudged him with her voice.

The nagging feeling was growing stronger, but Harry was ignoring it the best he could.  What could go wrong?  Taking a deep breath he look Ginny right in the eyes.  They fairly sparkled in the lamplight.  Harry almost lost himself in her gaze, before remembering that she was waiting for an answer.  He brought one hand up to touch the side of her arm and used his other hand to brush a stray strand of hair out of her face before settling it on her shoulder.

"Ginny," he said seriously, "I promise."

Ginny smiled up at him sweetly and murmured a quiet thanks.  Harry dropped his hands and smiled in return.

They walked the a few more steps to the entrance of Gryffindor Tower.

"Chudley Cannons."

As soon as Harry spoke, the portrait door swung open.  How Ron had convinced Hermione that they should use that as a password entirely baffled him.  He still remembered the look on Ron's face when he'd first said the password to get into the tower.  Harry didn't think it was humanly possible for Ron's smile to get any larger.  But then they'd run into Hermione in the common room two minutes later and Ron somehow managed to widen his grin.

  Harry liked it when his best friend smiled.  It was much preferred to the look he'd been carting lately what with Ginny and -

Ginny.

As he turned to look at her, voices flashed through his head.

_"Ginny, are you ok?"             _

_"I'm fine."_

The conversation in front of the fire.

_"You're right about Ginny, something's up."_

Ron, after quidditch practice. 

_"It's in her eyes…She's trying to hide something."_

His own voice echoing in his head.

_"Don't you think I'm scared to death that it's going to be like second year all over again and that I won't be able to help her this time?"_

Ron's intense whisper in the Great Hall.

_"We'll just have to try and convince her to tell us."   _

Weasley Plan A.

_"Harry, you go find Ginny while Ron and I figure out what to say to her.  I think she'll probably be outside."_

Hermione, fifteen minutes ago in the common room, where she and Ron were now planning how to force Ginny to talk about what was going on with her.  Harry was leading her to an interrogation.__

_"Harry, if I promise never to push you, will you promise me the same thing?"_

_"Ginny, I promise."_

He was leading her to an interrogation, moments after he had promised not to push her to talk.

And as the portrait door closed behind them, the Fat Lady heard Harry mutter something that sounded suspiciously profane.

*********


	11. Hell

A/N:  Finally!  Here is a brand new chapter!  I hope you enjoy and make sure you review and let me know what you thought about it!

*********

            When Harry entered the common room he was surprised at how normal everything seemed.  The fire on the other side of the room was burning pleasantly, not even trying to engulf him.  Everyone, even Ron and Hermione, looked decidedly happy.  The room itself felt warm and cozy and not even the least bit evil or horrible.  And most surprisingly of all, neither Snape nor Malfoy were anywhere in sight.  

            In short, the common room looked nothing at all like the hell Harry had been expecting after the massive blunder he'd made just outside the entrance.  

_            What was I thinking? _he thought as he sought out Ron and Hermione yet again.  Ron had just said something that earned him a look of outrage and a swat on the arm from Hermione, whose outrage soon dissolved into a laugh.   

            _You were thinking that she deserves the same treatment you'd want, you know, the golden rule and all that_, a second inner voice responded.  As true as that was it didn't help the situation he was in now.  If only he could catch Ron's eye then he wouldn't have to bring Ginny over and…well, there had to be some way he could get out of this!

            But Ron had started chuckling along with Hermione, whose laugh was almost starting to lean towards a giggle.  

            "Harry, I'll see you later."

            He looked over at Ginny, who was still standing beside him, and his stomach lurched unpleasantly.  Glancing at her slightly untidy crimson hair and her chocolate brown eyes that were glistening and bloodshot, Harry decided that no matter what the common room looked like at the moment, it felt very close to being in hell.

            "Erm, thanks for walking back with me and everything."

            Harry didn't feel like he deserved to be thanked for anything that was included in everything, because he had the sinking suspicion that he was about to ruin in all.  

            "Well, bye."  And she turned to leave.

            Harry's eyes shot over to Ron and Hermione who were talking amicably and looking at each other instead of over where Ginny was standing like they should.  _Bugger.___

            "Ginny, wait!"

            She turned around and gave him an almost pained look.

            "Harry, I really have a lot of homework to do."

            "Ron has to talk to you."

            Ginny rolled her eyes with the look of a sister that doesn't want to bother with her annoying brother at the moment.

            "Well, tell him that he can talk to me later.  I have three feet of parchment due tomorrow in both Potions and Divination.  Not to mention Charms, Transfiguration, and Arithmancy…just tell him I'll talk to him later."

            This was getting to be harder than Harry had expected and it hadn't even started yet.

            "Look, it's really important."

            "I really can't…"

            "Please?"

            Ginny gave an exasperated sigh and agreed.

            "Fine."

            Harry and Ginny walked slowly over to the couch where Ron and Hermione sat and Harry vaguely thought that it was rather like the calm before the storm.  This plan had seemed so much smoother when they had discussed it earlier.

            Perhaps he was just being overly dramatic.  Hermione had said last year that he, through no fault of his own, could sometimes blow ordinary things out of proportion.  'It's not your fault, it's just because of all that's happened to you.  You're bound to be a little suspicious of ordinary occurrences.'

              He had snapped back that if people were trying to kill her all the time that she might be a little paranoid too.  It hadn't been the right thing to say, but it had been how he felt.  

            He'd felt guilty after he said it though and was quite glad when Hermione accepted his apology a week later.

            Maybe she was right though.  Harry knew that he simply wasn't used to normal life, or at least as normal of a life as a boy wizard could expect.  Surely this thing with Ginny, if it caused a problem at all, would eventually be okay.  She would understand that he was just concerned about her, that they were concerned about her.  

            She didn't look like she was apt to explode or anything so that must be a good sign.  She just looked slightly annoyed.  He could handle that.  After this discussion was all over he could apologize and everything would be just fine.  

            "Well Ron, what do you want?"

            Harry heard Ginny's slightly exasperated voice and realized that they had just reached the couch where Hermione and a now flustered Ron were sitting.

            "Ginny," he was saying, "I wanted to talk to you."

            "I'd already gathered that."

            "Well, actually we all wanted to talk to you."

            _We.__  Did he just say we?_

            Ginny's eyes widened slightly and she looked back at Harry in question.  He didn't know quite how to respond.

            "About what?" she asked heavily as she turned back towards Ron.  It sounded like she already knew.  

            "Well," Ron looked at Hermione with slight panic.  She responded with a supportive look and nodded.

            "It's just that I'm, we're, feeling concerned about you.  We'd like to help you with whatever it is that's going on."

            Ron kept talking about worry, and feelings, and wanting to help, but Ginny was no longer listening.  In fact, she couldn't focus on anything.  Everything seemed suddenly and terribly out of control.  She couldn't hold everything in much longer.  It was all much too tempting to just break down and tell them everything.  She wanted to more than anything, wanted to be free of the burden that she'd been living with ever since they'd gone into the Department of Mysteries a few months ago.  The burden of this nightmare that just kept getting worse.  

            Ginny put a hand up to her forehead.  A headache was starting to flare up as thoughts flew through her head at a faster and faster pace.  For just a moment she let herself believe that she could just tell Ron what was happening.  She just wanted her brother to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be all right.

            But she couldn't.  Because if she told Ron, Harry would know.  And he would stick closer to her rather than avoid her.  It was just the way he was.  Over the summer Ron and Ginny had talked more.  And he had told her about what started the argument that she and Luna had walked into when Harry thought that Voldemort had Sirius.  About how Hermione said that he had a "saving-people thing".  Ginny couldn't fault him for it, because of Harry's "saving-people thing" she was still alive, but she knew better than anyone how true Hermione's statement was.  

            And it was because of this, because of Harry's caring heart that she had to stay strong.  That she had to push them all away.  Because if she didn't then the closeness she longed and feared would happen.  And she couldn't risk him.  Any of them.

            "Shut up Ron!"  The anger in Ginny's voice made Ron shut his mouth immediately and had Hermione and Harry staring at her in shock.  

            "Stay the hell out of my business."  Ginny poured all the frustration and anger that she'd felt over the past few months into her tone.  "I'm tired of you playing the big brother whenever it suits you."

            "Ginny, what are you talking about?"

            "I'm talking about how we used to be best friends Ron.  Remember that?  Until you got to Hogwarts and decided to ditch me for five years until it was finally in your best interests to be the caring brother again.  Can't have anything interfere with Quidditch and all that.  Where were you my first year Ron?  If you had paid any attention at all you might've seen that something was wrong!"

            "Ginny, I - " Ron looked desperate to refute Ginny's accusations, but she couldn't let him have a chance.

            "You can't just care when it suits you!  And I don't want you trying to help me now.  I can handle it, and you lost your chance years ago."

            Ginny tried to ignore the pain on Ron's face as she spun around to face Harry.

            "And you!"  She looked him in the eyes and almost stopped.  She couldn't bear the look of shock and fearful anticipation that he was giving her.  Taking a deep breath, she continued, "What bloody kind of friend are you?  _Exploding snap tournament.__  I won't push you. _ What the hell kind of shit is that?"  Harry opened his mouth, but Ginny didn't let him say anything, and instead looked coldly into his eyes and sharply whispered, "Remind me never to trust you again."

            Ginny could feel herself draining of the anger she needed.  She pulled up an image in her mind that would give her all the anger she needed.  The image of Voldemort as he told her to kill Harry, as he enjoyed the hell that he was putting her through.  As he took pleasure from her pain, for the second time in her life.  Ginny took a deep breath and looked around at Harry and Hermione and Ron.

            "Just stay out of my damn life.  All of you."  

            And with that, Ginny turned and stalked over to the dormitory stairs without glancing back at three people whose only crime was caring about her.  Once she got to the stairs she started to run and her tears started to fall.  She tripped twice, but finally made it to the fifth years' room.  She opened the door and stepped inside.  Ginny looked over at her bed through her tear-filled eyes, walked over and flung aside the red curtains.  She crawled inside and then shut the drapes behind her.  

            Hugging a pillow to her chest as she leaned up against the headboard, Ginny wondered why she felt so horrid if she was doing the right thing.  She kept seeing their shocked faces and hearing the horrible things she'd said.  At least she hadn't said anything directly to Hermione too.  The look on Ron's face…how could she ever face him after what she'd said?  _What would happen during holidays at home.  Did I just cause another Percy-like rift in our family?  Oh God.      _

_            And Harry.  It didn't hurt quite as much remembering his expression as Ron's, but then Harry has always been more guarded.  He seemed to be expecting it too.  I still hurt him though and I hate it.  _

_            I did the right thing, didn't I?  If I did, why do I feel like something just went horribly wrong?  Why do I feel like things just took a turn that they weren't supposed to?_

Ginny's crying intensified and she leaned over to tap her wand lightly on a sky blue circular object.  Music started to drift into the room, covering up the sound of Ginny's weeping.  

            **********


	12. Share the Burden

**********

            After a while Ginny's tears subsided, though the horrible feeling in her stomach hadn't lessened.  She slowly sat up on her bed and took a deep breath, checking that the tears wouldn't start back up again.  She listened for the voices of her roommates and finally pulled back the red curtain when all she heard was silence.  She wandered over to the window seat and sat down, listening to the soft strains of music coming from the blue Symfonia that the twins had given her last Christmas.    

            No matter how hard she tried, Ginny couldn't escape that nightmare.  Whispers of it followed her throughout the day and images of it haunted everything she did.  The worst part was the utter loneliness that she felt, and that she knew she would have to get used to.  Years ago she had combated a similar feeling of loneliness by writing in a diary.  She'd have to make sure that she didn't make a mistake like that this time.  

            It was moments like this though when Ginny wished that she was still able to write in a diary, to have a place to release her thoughts.  Diaries were rather like pensieves when one thought about it.  Unfortunately, writing in a diary was one of the many things that Tom had stolen from her.  Just like her ability to trust, her pleasant dreams, and the innocence of her childhood.  And now her friends.  

            Ginny looked out at the stars, lost in thought, and didn't even notice when her roommate Rowena walked into the darkened room.

            "Ginny?"  Rowena's voice was hesitant.

            "Oh, I didn't realize that you had come in," Ginny said heavily, as she turned back toward her friend.

            Rowena saw the tear streaks on Ginny's face and realized that she's been crying.

            "Ginny, what's wrong?"

            Rowena couldn't imagine what had made Ginny cry as badly as it seemed she had.  Ginny was the strong one.  That's the way it was.  All the fifth year Gryffindor girls played their parts.  Rowena was the smart one, Amanda was the eccentric one, Kristy was the melodramatic one, Iris was the funny one, and Ginny was the strong one.  Rowena didn't like anything to upset what she was used to and Ginny crying was throwing her exceptionally off balance.  

            "Ginny?"  The girl in question sighed and then looked up at Rowena.

            "I've had a horrible day," she said, hoping that Rowena wouldn't question any further.  Unfortunately, Rowena wasn't convinced.

            "There's something else.  I know there is.  Come on, you'll feel better talking about it."

            Ginny smiled darkly.  _If that could've solved my problems I would've done it a long time ago._

            "I can't."

            This wasn't getting anywhere.  Rowena decided to try another tactic.

            "Your brother looked really upset when I was on my way up.  Did you two get into another fight?"

            She saw the flash of recognition in Ginny's eyes and knew that she'd guessed right and that Ron was somehow involved.  

            "I guess so," Ginny replied, seemingly reluctant to give any information.  

            "It's not your fault if he was being a prat again Ginny.  I know that he's your brother, but you shouldn't take what he says so personally."

            Ginny felt that it was more something that she said that was the problem, but stayed silent.  Her lips tightened and Rowena looked at her curiously.  

            _I can't tell her,_ Ginny repeated to herself, _I can't._

            "You know that you can tell me anything, right Ginny?"  

            Ginny slowly nodded her head.  If Ginny were going to trust anyone, it would be Rowena.  She'd been the first true friend that Ginny had made at Hogwarts.  They hadn't become close until second year when rumors of Ginny's involvement in the opening of the Chamber had leaked out.  Everyone but Rowena had stayed a safe distance from her that year.  Eventually Ginny had even told Rowena some of what had happened with the diary and the Chamber, although she left out some of the more horrifying parts, like the revelation that Voldemort had poured some of himself into her and stolen part of her in return.  

            Rowena had countered by telling Ginny of the disappointment it had been to her family when she had been placed in Gryffindor, unlike the past six generations of her family who'd been sorted into Ravenclaw.  Her parents never said anything outright to her, but she knew that the thought of having their _Rowena_ in Gryffindor was an embarrassment.  

            The two girls had grown closer after that and found that Rowena's logical thinking was a perfect complement to Ginny's impulsiveness.  Ginny wanted to believe that she could tell Rowena everything, but she wasn't sure if she should trust anyone with this information.  

            "I know Rowena.  It's just really tough," Ginny said softly.

            "You can even obliviate me afterwards if you want to," Rowena offered with a slight chuckle.  

            _No, I couldn't possibly,_ Ginny thought, trying to stop the giddy feeling of hope that had risen in her at Rowena's offer.  _It would be wrong to obliviate a friend, right?_

"Really?" Ginny heard herself ask.  

            Rowena had been joking when she made that comment, but she couldn't ignore the desperation in her friend's eyes.  Apparently whatever was going on with Ginny was much more serious than she thought.  Taking a deep breath and ignoring the fear she felt about possibly having her memories erased, she answered, "Yes."

            Ginny's lips slightly turned up as she looked back out the window.  Rowena waited in silence while Ginny stared out at the stars above the pitch.  She was just starting to drift off into her thoughts when Ginny muttered something.

            "What?" Rowena asked.

            "Have you ever dreamt something so clearly that you couldn't quite shake it off when you woke up?" Ginny said, still looking through the window.

            "Is this about your nightmares?" 

            Ginny's eyes snapped over to her, frightened.  

            "You know about those?"

            "Well, the silencing charms weaken throughout the night, I've heard you.  Don't worry though, the other girls sleep like the dead."

            "Why didn't you ever tell me that you knew?"

            "I figured that if you wanted me to know, you'd tell me.  Otherwise I wanted to give you space about it."

            _God only knows what this is about if it's related to her nightmares and makes Ginny feel like she has to erase my memory of our conversation, _Rowena thought.  She had often woken up to Ginny's muffled screams and bargaining for Harry's life, and had hoped that her friend was talking to somebody about the things that haunted her dreams.  However, if tonight's reaction was anything to judge by, she hadn't told anyone that she was even having nightmares.

            The silence stretched until Ginny quietly spoke again.

            "Row, do you think that dreams can come true?"

            "You've been reading too many of Kristy's romance novels," Rowena said, nervously cracking a joke.  

            "Sorry," Rowena said.  She took her Ginny's slight head nod as an acceptance of her apology.  "I don't really know," she continued more seriously, "I've heard of some people having precognitive dreams, but they're extremely rare.  The only people that usually get them are-"

            "I think I am one, Row.  I think I'm a seer."

*********

            After several minutes of just standing there, Hermione and Ron sank into a nearby couch and Harry into a nearby chair.  

            "Well, that went rather well, don't you think?" Harry grumbled.  

            "Harry, there's no need for your attitude," Hermione said gently before she turned to Ron and asked if he was okay.  Harry crossed his arms and sank lower into the chair, frustrated because the conversation had turned out exactly as he'd thought it would - an utter disaster.  _I never should have gone along with Ron's plan.  _

"How can she think that?  That I _only care when it suits me_!  I know I'm not the best brother sometimes, but,"  Ron paused, eyes glistening, "Has she really felt this way the whole time?"

            "Ron," Hermione said as she laid a hand on top of his, "I'm sure she hasn't.  She's probably just feeling out of sorts because of whatever is going on."

            Hermione's soothing voice was starting to annoy Harry.  Things weren't fine and they weren't going to become fine just because she said so.

            "She had a point you know."

            Ron and Hermione's attention jerked to Harry at the sharp tone of his voice.  Hermione glared at him not to continue, but Harry didn't care.

            "I mean you did ignore her a lot the past few years Ron.  We didn't even notice that something was wrong second year.  She bloody well even tried to tell us!  Maybe she's right.  You ignored her and I betrayed her trust."

            Ron gaped as Harry confirmed his worst fears.  

            "Bloody hell, she was right, wasn't she?"  Harry gave a weak smile and Ron buried his face in his hands, trying to figure how he was going to make things right with his baby sister.  They had been best friends before Hogwarts, partners in crime.  He'd never thought how it must've felt for her to suddenly be left alone.  Even after the Chamber he hadn't spent enough time with her.  He'd figured that she'd want to spend time with her own friends.  _She had close friends, right?_

            "Wait," Hermione interjected from his right, "How did you betray her trust?"

            "Oh, that," Harry said darkly, not particularly wanting to think about it, "I was the one who dragged her in here.  And after, mind you, I told her that I wouldn't push her to say anything."

            "Harry," Hermione said sympathetically, sneaking a glance at Ron over on the couch, "Why did you say that?  You knew what the plan was."

            "She asked me, all right?" Harry said defensively, "She said that she would never push me about talking about things if I didn't push her."  

            "Oh Harry," Hermione said quietly.

            "I thought it was a good bargain," he added, briefly thinking of the prophecy that was still a secret from his two best friends.  "Plus, the plan was a bloody stupid idea anyway."  Harry didn't add that his brain had been feeling a bit fuzzy at the time.  
            "Hey!" Ron shouted, "It was a good idea that just happened to go horribly wrong"

            "It was stupid.  I told you that, but you wouldn't listen," Harry retorted.  

            Harry and Ron glared at each other and Hermione quickly glanced back and forth.

            "Well, I didn't see the two of you having any ideas!" Ron shouted.

            "Ron, maybe -"

            "Shut it Hermione." Ron said, still glaring at Harry.

            "Well at least I didn't create the plan that made her hate us.  Bloody stupid to make you think that forcing somebody to talk ever works.  You try and do it to me all the time...Oh wait!  Maybe I should just go get Snape to whip up some Veritaserum to use on me and Ginny.  That'll solve all our problems!" Harry said harshly.

            "Harry -"

            "Shut it Hermione." Harry ground out.

            "Fine!  You two can just sit here and be idiots about the whole situation!  I'm going to the library!"  And with that Hermione gathered her books and headed out of the tower.

            "I'm going out to the pitch," Harry said firmly with a parting dark look at Ron.

            "Fine," Ron shouted, "See if I care!"

            He noticed that Rowena Brooks shot him a confused look as she went upstairs, but decided that it didn't matter.  Ginny was bound to know he was upset regardless of whether or not her dark-haired roommate heard him screaming in the common room.  He crossed his arms, gave a significantly icy frown to the chattering first years in the corner, and settled down to brood.

*********

            "A seer, Ginny?  You can't be a seer, their powers don't manifest themselves until they're of age."

            "I think I am though.  It all makes sense.  I've been doing some research.  It's possible for their abilities to come about earlier if the seer has been through," _a traumatic experience_, "a difficult time and with the Chamber..."  Ginny trailed off.

            "But sometimes you fail the divination tests!"  _This can't be happening_, Rowena thought, _she can't be a seer, they're too rare...and we're only 15!_

"That's only because Trelawny's a fake and she wouldn't know a correct prediction if it hit her in the face.  Every prediction I've tried for in that class came true." 

            Rowena looked doubtful.

            "Are you sure that you are?  Isn't there some kind of test to be sure?"

            "Not that I know of.  I've looked, but you know that I'm not that great at researching."

            "Maybe we can ask McGonagall," Rowena suggested as her academic curiosity started to override her initial disbelief, "wow Ginny, if you're right than this is amazing!"

            "I'm not sure amazing is exactly the word that I would use," Ginny replied.

            Rowena recognized the hopeless tone in her friend's voice and her smile faded.

            "There's more isn't there?  Does this have to do with you fight with Ron?"

            "Not exactly," Ginny paused, unsure if she should reveal everything.  She really didn't want to have to erase her best friend's memories.

            "You might feel better if you tell somebody," Rowena said earnestly.

            Ginny sat silently as she weighed her options.  Telling Rowena would be incredibly selfish, but Ginny was tired of carrying this burden all alone.  She was tired of being alone.  _I deserve this_, Ginny thought,_ I deserve this one selfish act because of all the sacrifices I've made and all the sacrifices I'll continue to make until **He** is dead._

            "Rowena," she said as she looked up to her friend's dark eyes, "I _saw_ something."

***********

A/N:  Hey everybody!  I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are happy that Ginny's finally telling someone.  Let me know what you thought of it all!

bug -  Glad you liked it, and I definitely am continuing!  J

dementorchic – I'm glad you like it.  I know it's a little sad, but Ginny's dealing with a lot.  Don't worry, she'll start being nicer soon because she's no longer all alone in this now that she's told Rowena.  The tension between her and Harry won't completely let up though, because more things will eventually happen to further complicate the matter.

Lavalampronsgirl – Your review made me laugh and smile.  I'm glad you liked the last chapter Kym.  Can't wait to hear what you think about this one! 

Coming in the next chapter:  Ginny and Rowena try to think things through, Harry ponders out on the pitch, and Dumbledore returns!

That's all for now.  I can't wait for your reviews!


	13. Not Always As They Seem

*********

            "...and then I killed him," Ginny concluded.  Although she wasn't entirely sure that she was comfortable with the compassionate look that Rowena had on, it was definitely loads better than feeling alone.  

            "Lord, Ginny," Rowena breathed, "Harry?"

            Ginny nodded her head.  

            "Well," Rowena said as she got up and started pacing the room, "Maybe you're not really a seer...you could just be exceptionally good at divination."

            As much as Ginny wanted to believe that, she knew it wasn't that simple.

            "But what about the dream?"

            "You said that it looked kind of like the Chamber.  Maybe this dream is some sort of amalgamation of your fears from that.  You were worried about Harry then too."

            "I don't know Rowena.  I don't think so."

            "Maybe we should talk to Dumbledore.  He'll know how to go about proving that you're not a seer."

            "How do you know that I'm not?!" Ginny's frustrated voice rang out.

            "Well, for one, because you would never kill Harry," Rowena reasoned as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

            Ginny didn't bother correcting her.  No need bringing up the fact that she'd almost gotten him killed once already, nearly five years ago.  

            "Two, it's simply entirely improbable."  Ginny rolled her eyes.  

            "However," Rowena added, "We can't say that it's impossible unless we prove it so we will."

            "We will?" Ginny said hopefully.  She was suddenly very glad that she had taken the risk of telling Rowena.  Maybe it would help to have someone to see this logically and from a clearer perspective.  

            "Sure," Rowena said, "We just need to find a spell that will definitively show whether or not you are a true seer.  There has to be one out there."

            Ginny nodded.  If it was like Rowena thought and all the product of her subconscious, then things might work out.  Her calm reasoning was certainly tempting. 

            "Okay," Ginny said, "let's try that."

            Even if it wasn't like Rowena thought, Ginny decided that letting herself believe it for a while might be nice.  Denial suddenly seemed like such a pleasant option. 

            "Maybe we should ask Dumbledore.  He'd probably know," Rowena said as she said down on Ginny's bed, the closest to the window seat.  

            "No!" Ginny shouted.  Rowena looked at her in shock and she decided to amend her statement.  "I mean, I don't think I should tell him, at least not yet.  We don't even know if it really is something and I don't want to bother him if it's not."

            Ginny surprised herself by using the same argument that Rowena had earlier - that maybe she'd all made it up in her head.  She didn't know why she wanted to keep it a secret from Dumbledore, maybe because telling him would make it more real.  She just prayed that Rowena believed her reasons.

            "I guess we'll have to look in the library ourselves then."  Ginny nodded in agreement.  "Ginny, does anyone else know?"

            "What?  Why?"  The question had caught her off-guard.  

            "It's just that it would be easier to search the library if we had help."

            "No," Ginny said looking down at the red carpet, "I haven't told anyone but you."    

            "What if we told your brother?  I'm sure he'd help.  And Hermione's brilliant at research."

            "Well, even if they were talking to me right now, I couldn't tell them," Ginny said ruefully.  "You can't tell them either Row.  You have to promise me.  No one can know."

            "I suppose, but I really think that we should at least tell Dumbledore."

            "No Row.  No one can know.  Because if this is true we have to do everything in our power to keep it from coming true.  And that includes blocking off all ways that this information could leak out."  Ginny sighed, "I probably shouldn't even have told you."

            "Ginny, I'm glad you told me.  You would've gone crazy keeping it to yourself much longer.  Don't worry, we'll go to the library tomorrow morning between Potions and Charms and we'll figure it out."

            Rowena walked over and hugged her friend and Ginny murmured a soft thanks.

            "I'll always be there for you.  You know that, right?" Rowena said into Ginny's hair as the redhead nodded.  "Trust me, things will be okay." 

*********

            Harry tried to lose his anger in the cool night breeze streaming across his face as he attempted one death-defying dive after another.  He wasn't supposed to be out on the grounds past nightfall, especially after last term, but Harry didn't really care.  He was tired of feeling trapped and utterly helpless.  He hadn't been able to save Cedric, or Sirius, and now Ginny was involved in something that he was sure was dangerous and was positive was somehow indirectly his fault.    

            He grazed the grass with his foot as he glided dangerously close to the ground.  Everything Ginny had said tonight was the truth.  Why should she trust him?  He'd lied to her and had a tendency to get those around him killed.  Bloody good qualities in a friend.  And he wanted to be her friend.  Somehow he felt that it would be good for the both of him.  Assuming she ever forgave him.  At least she hadn't brought up that awful moment over Christmas when he'd _forgotten_ about second year and all of the horrible, traumatic things that she'd been through.  Harry didn't think that he'd ever felt more horrible than when she'd said, "Lucky you" after he'd admitted it.  

            Harry thought about that day a lot and about how he'd finally realized that he wasn't the only one who'd had to deal with being linked to Voldemort.  He wondered if Ginny ever got that disgusted, dirty feeling when she thought about it.  

            Doing a quick aerial loop, Harry turned back towards the opposite hoops, pushing harder.  Ginny was the only person alive who could possibly understand what he was feeling sometimes, but he doubted she would ever talk to him again.  Maybe if he found someway to make it up to her, prove that she could trust him and that they could be friends...

            Harry quickly slowed his descent and rolled off his broom just before he hit the ground.  Arms and legs spread out on the ground and panting heavily, Harry closed his eyes wondering why everything in his life always went so thoroughly wrong.  He couldn't let something else happen and if he had to grovel every day he was going to fix things with Ginny and eventually figure out how to help her with whatever it was that she was going through.  Harry knew that he had to make things right.  He wouldn't lose Ginny too.

 ********

            "You wanted to see me Albus?"

            Minerva McGonagall peeked a head inside the Headmaster's office, not bothering to keep the curiosity and concern out of her voice.

            "Yes Minerva.  Please have a seat."  

            "What is this about?," she said sitting down across from Dumbledore, "You said that it was urgent."  She had been about to retire for the night when she had received the coded summons from the Headmaster.

            "It seems that the incident with Voldemort's diary has had more drastic repercussions than we realized."  The Headmaster sighed and put his hand to his forehead, suddenly looking much older.  "I had assumed that the rumored companion prophecy to the one that Sybil made was false, but I was mistaken.  This changes everything Minerva."

            "Does the girl know?"  She hadn't expected this and apparently neither had Dumbledore.  

            "No, not yet.  Though I don't doubt that she'll discover it soon enough."

            "What shall we do?"

            "Until the time comes that we can do more, pray that Miss Weasley has the sense to keep her friends close and recognize that things are not always as they seem."  

*********      

A/N:  Hope you liked this chapter!  As always I will be waiting for your reviews with bated breath. 

Kitten530 – I'm glad that you're liking it!  I can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter.

lavalampronsgirl – Glad you loved the chapter!  I'd also like to be a seer.  It would be a cool ability.  Although I'd hate to have the type of problems that Ginny is having with it.  Hope you liked this chapter!

Echo256 – Thanks.  Hope you liked this chapter too.

amyaggie – Don't worry about the publish date.  I planning on updating this story on a regular basis until it's done.  I just went though a hectic time a few months ago and had to put this story on hold temporarily.  I'm glad you like this story and can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter!

dementorchic – I agree.  It's great that Ginny's told someone.  It'll loosen her up a bit and as you'll see soon enough, opening up to Rowena will make her more likely to open up to Harry (until the inevitable complications).  Harry and Ginny's relationship will be tough for a while, but it won't die because then I wouldn't have a story.  As for the prophesy, it'll come out eventually, but Harry, like Ginny, has his reasons for keeping it to himself.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter. 


	14. Lover's Tiff

A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry I didn't post this sooner, but life's been hectic lately (especially with school). Hope you like this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you think!

* * *

The days that followed were a strain on everyone. Ron and Harry had gone from barely speaking to pretending that their fight had never happened, Hermione just wanted things to go back to normal, and Ginny wasn't talking to any of them. The common room and halls were filled with cold glares and growing frustration on all of their parts, a problem that grew worse as the professors started to assign more and more homework.

"Bloody stupid O.W.L.s," Ginny muttered as she threw her bookbag onto the library table and sat down next to Rowena. "Hi Row."

"Oh! There you are Ginny! I was worried that you might've gotten detention again."

"No, that's not it. McGonagall just wanted to talk to me. It was the strangest thing. She didn't even bring up the way I'd completely botched the assignment." Ginny went over the conversation in her head again, trying to figure out what McGonagall had been getting at.

"Well, what did she talk with you about then?" Rowena questioned curiously.

"Something about how she knows that I have a lot on my mind, but that things will work out all right and that she has faith in me. If I didn't know better I'd swear that she was referring to...You didn't tell her, did you?"

"Of course not Ginny! You know I'd never." They sat a moment in silence before Rowena spoke again. "Did she say anything else?"

"She said," Ginny hesitated, not wanting to think about it any more than necessary, "She said that I had to follow my heart."

"Odd."

"Yeah. I swear she knows something. I think she might even know more about what's going on than I do."

"Why was she talking about following your heart though?"

"I have no idea. If I followed what my heart wanted to do I'd just be putting more people in danger."

"It'll be okay," Rowena said, briefly putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder, "We're getting closer. I can feel it." She gestured at the piles of books that were laid out on the table in front of them. "And once we figure it out, what your heart wants to do and what you can do will be the same."

"I hope so. I really miss them, you know? I miss talking with Hermione and hanging out with my brother."

"And you miss Harry," Rowena added empathetically.

"Maybe."

"Well, let's get to work on this then. We've been at it for almost a week, we've got to find something soon."

* * *

Ginny unloaded the books that she'd checked out for the night onto her dresser and plopped down on the windowseat, breathing a sigh of relief. This week was killing her. She was under an emotional and academic strain and, because of the nightmares, was severely sleep-deprived. She tried to think back to easier, more innocent times before realizing how far in the past those times actually were. _I just want a normal life, is that too much to ask?_

Ginny heard a knock on the dormitory door.

"Come in," she said, looking over to see who it was. "Ron?"

"Hey Ginny," he said, walking over to her seat.

"Wait! How did you get in? Boys aren't supposed to be allowed up here!"

"Oh that," he gave a hollow laugh, "Me and Harry figured out a way to get past that at the beginning of term. Keep shut about it though, or people might go around saying that we're delinquents."

Ginny cracked a small smile at Ron's joke. "But you are delinquents."

"Oh, that hurts Gin," he said as a hand flew to his chest. She rolled her eyes.

"So what are you doing here?"

Ron sighed and took a quick glance out the window before sitting down beside his sister and facing her.

"I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" Ginny felt like she should be the one to apologize to him.

"Yeah, you were right. I have ignored you a lot since we got to Hogwarts and I'm really sorry. It was a bloody awful thing to do."

"Ron - " Ginny's brain was telling her that she couldn't let him apologize, that it would just be putting everyone in danger, but her heart wouldn't let her.

"Don't stop me. And," he added, "don't say that you didn't mean it either because I know you did. I'm so, so sorry Ginny. I want to make it up to you. I want us to be close again. I may be a delinquent, but I don't want to be a delinquent brother."

"Oh Ron." Maybe it was the fact that Ginny had let her guard down in the past few days, or maybe it was the remorseful look on Ron's face and Ginny's own desire for the relationship she'd once had with her brother. It could even have been McGonagall's advice ringing in her ears, but for whatever reason, Ginny flung herself at her brother and hugged him. "You aren't a delinquent brother."

"Well, not anymore at least," he said as he hugged her back.

After a minute they released each other and Ginny wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Now," Ron started, "it's my job as a non-delinquent brother to ask what's going on with you."

"Nothing Ron. Everything's fine." She was too emotional to even consider making a decision like telling him. Everything was too confusing now anyway. She wouldn't know where to start.

"You could never lie very well," he said as a smile started to form. "Is it about that bloody git Dean? I know he's my roommate, but I'll pummel him if you want me to."

Ginny laughed, really laughed, for the first time in weeks. She silently thanked Ron for steering the topic away. "If you still think that there was ever anything between Dean and I, then you're thicker than I thought."

"Well after what you said on the train...and you never told me about Corner," he said.

"You'd think that after all these years you'd realize when I was just saying something to irritate you. There was never anything going on with me and Dean, but you're just so overprotective sometimes. I am going to go on dates, you know. With _boys_."

Ron rolled his eyes. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you, you know? Sometimes I forget that you're only a year younger than me." He sighed. "Things were so much easier when you fancied Harry."

"When I fancied Harry?" Ginny gasped.

"Yeah. I mean, Dean's a nice bloke and everything, but I trust Harry. Like in a roundabout way it feels safer with him. I don't know how to explain it."

Ginny didn't know how to respond. Not only had Ron brought up her accursed infatuation with Harry, but seemed to want to encourage it. It was probably because nothing would happen between them, as Harry didn't fancy her. That was the only way should could possibly interpret Ron's use of _safe._ It certainly couldn't be the conventional way as, if anything _ever_ actually happened between them, she would feel like she was endangering his life and he would most likely feel like he was endangering hers. It simply wasn't a possible option.

"Ron, if you're getting at what I think you're getting it, I should tell you that you really need to mind your own business. There is never going to be anything between me and Harry," Ginny said, trying to be as forceful as possible.

"Fine," Ron said, putting his hands up in surrender, "but you better be nice to him when he comes to apologize. He's feeling dreadful about it."

"He is?"

Ron raised an eyebrow at Ginny's sudden curiosity, thinking that maybe his sister's assertion that nothing would happen with her and Harry was a bit off the mark.

"Are you really that surprised?"

"No. I guess not." After all, Harry had a tendency to feel dreadful about all sorts of things.

"Well, I should probably get back down to the common room. Hermione's probably fuming. I told her that I'd meet her to work on Charms. You forgive me right?"

"Of course I do Ronniekins," she said hugging her brother. "Now you better get downstairs before your girlfriend has a fit."

"My girlfriend!?" Ron pulled away shocked and ears reddening. Ginny laughed.

"You do realize that if you start poking around in my personal life I get to poke around in yours?" Ginny said with a smirk.

"But she's not!" he shouted before realizing that Ginny was laughing at him. "Oh shut it." He walked out of the room without another word. Ginny curled back up on the windowseat and smiled to herself, feeling happier than she had in months.

* * *

Ron stalked down to the common room and huffily sat down at the table where Harry and Hermione were speaking in low whispers.

"Oh Ron! How'd it go?" Hermione said when she noticed that Ron had joined them.

"Bloody prat of a sister...insinuating things...none of her business," Ron muttered.

The smile faded from Hermione's face. She'd been sure that if Ron had just apologized and talked to Ginny that things would be okay.

"So it didn't go well then?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh no, it went fine," he said off-handedly. "She better not say anything or I'll kill her," he continued intensely.

Hermione shot a glance at Harry who seemed just as confused.

"But did she forgive you?" Harry asked.

"Of course she did," Ron said as his eyes lightened, "But I'd watch out for her if I were you Harry. She can be devious."

"What?" Harry was really confused.

"Ron, what on earth are you talking about?" Hermione questioned.

"Just giving Harry some advice," he said carelessly "Can you believe that she's only a year younger than us?"

Hermione didn't know how to take Ron's surprised comment and simply rolled her eyes. Of course she was only a year younger. She had been his entire life. Harry also looked as if the fact had just occurred to him. _Why are boys so oblivious?_

* * *

Ginny fastened her crimson hair into a ponytail and grabbed her Cleansweep III before exiting the changing room and joining the rest of the team at the entrance to the pitch.

"Ron, you'll do fine," she heard Harry insisting and walked over to where the two were standing. "Plus, the new Ravenclaw chasers aren't going to be that difficult."

"He's right you know," Ginny added.

Harry looked at her, shocked that she was saying that he was right about something.

"I suppose," Ron stated, though he didn't look any better about it.

"Ginny, can I talk to you?" He'd better get this apology over with.

Ginny looked at him with eyebrows raised. "This really isn't a good time Harry." Turning back to Ron she started to give him a pep talk. Maybe things weren't quite as good as Harry had hoped. He really needed to apologize to her. Maybe once he did, her accusing words would stop running through his head.

"Ginny..."

"What Harry?" she said harshly, whirling around.

"I really need to talk to you. I need to apologize -"

"I really can't deal with this now! The match is about to start, Ron's a nervous wreck," Harry looked over to where Ron was taking enough deep breaths to hyperventilate, "and I just can't -"

"Having a lover's tiff?" Malfoy's smooth voice drifted over to them and Harry and Ginny spun around to face the Slytherin and his gang.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry hissed.

"Just thought I'd stop by on the way to the stands," Malfoy said calmly.

"Well, get out."

Ginny grabbed Harry's arm as he tried to move forward.

"Oh look, Weasel's come to join us," Malfoy said as Ron came up beside Ginny, "You know, I think I'm in a rather musical mood today. There's this song that I can't quite get out of my head. How'd it go again?" he said and the Gryffindor's faces turned angry as they realized what Malfoy was referring to, "Oh right! _Weasley__ is the king, he lets the Quaffle in -"_

"Shut it Malfoy!" Ginny shouted as Ron's face grew red and Harry reached for his wand.

"Feisty," Malfoy said as he looked her up and down. She was about to punch him when McGonagall appeared.

"Is everything all right?" the head of Gryffindor house asked as if she knew that everything weren't.

"Fine," the four of them said in unison.

McGonnagall left and the four of them stood there glaring before Malfoy announced that he was leaving.

"And Red," he added looking at Ginny, "If you ever want to try things out with a higher class of wizard," his eyes darted quickly to Harry and back, "let me know."

"Oh God," Ginny said once Malfoy left, "I think I'm gonna throw up."

* * *

Gryffindor trounced Ravenclaw. Most put it up to the intense training schedule, but Ginny thought that it had more likely been because of displaced anger at Malfoy that she, Ron, and Harry had flown harder and played more intensely. She still couldn't believe that he'd had the gall to say that to her. Ugh. It was disgusting.

She hoped that Hermione was keeping the boys from killing Malfoy because she didn't have the time or energy to deal with it. In fact, she had raced back to the castle after the match and taken her shower there simply because she didn't want to deal with the two, especially Harry who seemed like he was going to make apologizing to her and injuring Malfoy his mission in life.

She still hadn't figured out what to do with him. Patching things up with Ron had been great, but she still felt like doing so with Harry was a major risk until she found out for sure if her dreams were prophetic. She hoped she and Rowena would discover the spell soon because all of this uncertainty was starting to cloud her better judgment. And she wasn't sure how much longer she could avoid Harry.

"Wait," Rowena said from her position sitting on the floor beside Ginny's bed, "Malfoy hit on you?"

"Yes," she said as her thoughts refocused on the present, "It was the most disturbing thing ever."

"Ugh. That's just weird," Rowena said.

"I know. Now let's get back to reading. We have to find this spell."

"If he weren't so evil I'd be jealous. He is rather attractive." Rowena pretended to swoon.

"Don't be dramatic," Ginny said, think that Malfoy was the furthest possible thing from attractive, "I couldn't handle another dramatic roommate."

"Speaking of Kristy, did you hear about how she and that Ravenclaw Daniel got into a huge fight in the Charms corridor between classes? It was the talk of the Great Hall this morning at breakfast, which you should start coming to by the way."

"I know. I know. If I only had more time."

* * *

lavalampronsgirl – I'm glad you love it. :) Hope the fragments aren't too annoying, I just want to be able to fit lots of different points of view and happenings in each chapter.

Kitten530 – it's nice to hear that I'm keeping you on your toes and you're enjoying it. And the fact that things aren't always as they seem is definitely an important aspect of the story. I hope I can keep you on your toes for the rest of the story!

Dementorchic – you'll find out about all of those things in good time ;) you're asking all the right questions, but some things have to happen before I reveal the answers in the story…feel free to guess though!

Amyaggie – I'm really glad that you love my story and I'm really sorry that I didn't update sooner (especially after I promised I would), but school's been really hectic. I can't answer your questions, but you're definitely thinking about it the right way!

FuzzyElf – First off, I totally understand being busy and not being able to do fanfic stuff. That's how it's been for me lately. I was really happy to get your review though. I'm happy that you think I'm writing true to character – that's what I aim for. As for Ginny's friend, I didn't mean her to seem suspicious, the timing thing with the chamber I only meant to be that they became friends because neither of them felt like they fit in. However now that you mention it, I could go the other way too, mwahaha. We'll have to see ;). Dumbledore is definitely on top of things…we'll have to see later on though if he's handling the information he has correctly. It's always great to hear from you. Hope you liked this chapter!


	15. Rumors

"I'm going to kill him," Ron whispered harshly in Potions the following Monday as he glared at Malfoy, "Bloody wanker thinks he can proposition my sister-"

"Ron! Shhh!" Hermione hissed.

Ron continued to mutter under his breath about murdering Malfoy and Harry couldn't help but think that that was the best plan of action. He still couldn't believe that Malfoy had gone that far, first insinuating that something was going on with him and Ginny and then suggesting...ugh. He didn't even want to think about it. Remembering Malfoy's gaze on Ginny still threatened to turn his stomach.

And why had Malfoy assumed that he and Ginny were together? She wasn't even speaking to him!

However, that fact hadn't stopped him from wishing that they were together in that brief moment, if only to know that he held the win against the challenging look in Malfoy's eyes.

At least he felt rather reassured that Ginny could hold her own against Malfoy, especially with the way she had hexed him last term and been about to punch him Saturday morning. And it's not like Malfoy's suggestion could ever happen, right?

* * *

"So what's this I hear about you and Draco Malfoy?" Kristy asked as she slid into the chair beside Ginny.

"What did you hear? That he's evil incarnate and I want him to die?" Ginny said as she opened up her Charms textbook to chapter 10 and got out a quill.

"Heavens no! I heard that the two of you are conducting an illicit affair right under the nose of your boyfriend."

Ginny had to run that sentence through her mind a few times before figuring out all the things that were wrong with it.

"First off, I wouldn't touch Malfoy with a ten foot pole. Secondly, what boyfriend?"

"Harry Potter of course!" Kristy replied with confidence.

Ginny gave a weak smile before resting her face in her hands. Why did everyone think that she and Harry were a couple. They weren't even friends!

"...I understand that you would want to keep your relationship with Harry secret as he is one of the most famous wizards of all time and is being hunted by You-know-who, but it's really quite obvious that you're in love with each other. I don't know why you would jeopardize that for Malfoy. Everyone knows that he's bound to become a Death-eater."

"Kristy," Ginny said, keeping her voice down because the lesson had started, "Harry and I are not in love, nor are we together. And I would never conduct any sort of affair with Malfoy. Who did you hear all of this from?"

"Why, everyone was talking about it at breakfast." Ginny decided right then that Rowena was correct in insisting that she start attending breakfast. "I heard it from Parvati Patil who heard it from Susan Bones who heard it from Luna Lovegood who heard it from Malfoy himself."

Ginny let out a growl of anger. So now Malfoy was spreading rumors about her, was he? She was going to deck him as soon as she saw him.

"Don't worry dear," Kristy said, patting Ginny's fisted hand, "I'll keep your secret safe. Personally though, I think you should chose Harry."

Ginny let her head fall to the table.

* * *

After Charms, Ginny went directly to the library. Rowena planned on meeting her there after she dropped off some of her books in their room. Settling down at one of the wooden tables by the windows, Ginny took out the most recent book that she was reading through, _Seers through history: Cassandra to Adorno_. She was just getting engrossed in the novel when she heard someone sit down at the table behind her. Turning around, Ginny noticed the familiar long dirty-blond locks and decided that she could get something of a personal matter out of the way while she was waiting for Rowena.

"Hi Luna," she said as she moved to the seat next to the Ravenclaw girl.

"Hello Ginny," Luna responded languorously as her blue eyes lifted from the magazine that she seemed to have been reading upside down.

"Now Luna, Kristy said that you had heard something from Malfoy about me. What exactly did he say?"

"I think that what matters more is what Harry said when he heard."

"Luna, I really need to - wait, Harry heard?"

"Ginny, have you ever heard of the sarfnizzlers?"

"No, but -"

"They're quite fascinating creatures. Father wrote a feature about them in last month's Quibbler. They're really distracted by bright, shiny objects."

"I really don't understand what this has to do with -"

"They end up thinking that things like paper clips are really important and they completely forget to interact with each other and even forget about doing magic. They just stare at the paperclips."

"Really fascinating Luna, but -"

"Harry was rather upset when Neville told him what I'd heard from Malfoy. He was acting like he wanted to avenge your honor. Harry would be quite a gallant knight, don't you think?"

"Er, yes," Ginny replied for lack of a better response.

"He also got quite red in the face when I told him that you'd have no desire to run off with anyone else if the two of you were actually a couple."

"What?!" Ginny was quite sure that she was rather red now too.

"Ginny!" Rowena's voice shouted from across the library, ignoring the glares of studious Hufflepuff fifth years and Madame Pince. "There you are," she continued as she walked over to the table where she and Luna were sitting, "I'm all ready to get back to work, I think I found another place where we could look." She glanced at the blonde-haired girl. "Oh, hello Luna."

"Hello Rowena," Luna replied with a smile, "I was just telling Ginny about sarfnizzlers. Have you heard of them?"

"No I haven't Luna, but maybe you can tell me another time. Ginny and I have loads of work to do." She pulled Ginny up from her chair and they both muttered a quick goodbye before grabbing Ginny's books and heading over to a table across the room.

"What was all that about?" Rowena said as they sat down. "I mean, sarfnizzlers? As if they existed."

"I was asking her about what Malfoy said, since apparently he's started spreading rumors about me."

"Oh yes! I couldn't believe that when I'd heard," Rowena said, "Not that anyone would actually believe what he said of course," she added reassuringly, "except for maybe some of the Slytherins."

"I just don't understand why he wants to make my life hell. Shouldn't he be focusing on Ron or something?"

Ginny glanced exasperatedly over to her friend, only to notice that Rowena looked as though something important had occurred to her.

"Maybe he is still trying to get at Ron, and Harry for that matter, by causing problems for you. You know how protective Ron is of you. It makes perfect sense. And Harry also looked rather angry about the whole thing."

"Yeah, Luna told me," Ginny said absently.

"All I'm saying is that maybe Malfoy finally found the perfect way to ruffle their feathers."

"Even so, I still wish he would leave me alone. It was bad enough what he said before the match, but now he's spreading rumors!"

"Well, I'm sure that Harry or Ron would beat him up for you if you wanted."

"Tempting, but I'd rather be the one to injure him myself."

"Injure who?" questioned a voice behind her. She turned around, realized it was Harry, and sighed.

"Malfoy," Rowena said. Harry's lips tightened.

"Did you want something Harry?" Ginny asked before he could say whatever angry comment about Malfoy was on his tongue.

"Er, could I talk to you?" he said, "That is, if you're not too busy trying to avoid me."

The barb hurt, but Ginny knew that he was right.

"Sure Harry."

"In private," he said, glancing over at Rowena who was pretending to be engrossed in her Arithmancy textbook.

"Okay," Ginny said. She had to get this over sooner or later. Might as well be now. She got up and followed Harry to a deserted corner of the library.

"So?" she said, crossing her arms.

"Ginny," he said as he ran a hand through his hair, "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you about talking with Ron and Hermione, but when I said I wouldn't push you I had been telling the truth. I'd just forgotten about Ron's stupid plan. We were just all worried about you and I feel awful that you feel like you can't trust me." He paused a second and sighed, "I'm not handling this well at all."

There was a time when Ginny would've given anything to have Harry caring enough to nervously apologize to her. Now she would've given anything to be anywhere but here, with Harry shifting from foot to foot and looking abnormally attractive doing so.

"It's okay Harry. I forgive you."

Harry went still.

"What?"

"I forgive you. Apology accepted." Accepting his apology didn't mean that she'd have to start hanging around him. If only she'd thought of this sooner.

"But I haven't properly apologized!"

"I thought you did a fine job. Quite spiffing actually."

Harry looked at her oddly as if he couldn't figure out what had just occurred.

"You're still mad at me aren't you?"

Apparently Harry wouldn't accept a simple "You're forgiven." Ginny felt the sudden desire to leave as soon as possible.

"Of course not Harry! I really must get back to my Muggle Studies project though."

"What's it on?" Harry asked when Ginny started to turn around.

"Huh?"

"Your project. Maybe I could help," Harry said casually.

_I must be in another dimension. Since when does Harry offer to help me with homework? _Ginny shot Rowena a frantic glance and turned back to Harry.

"Er, it's all about Muggle radio and the difference between that and Wizarding radio. Quite fascinating actually." Ginny was surprised at how easy lying was becoming.

"Well, I used to listen to the radio sometimes back at the Dursley's," Harry tried not to cringe at their name, "so if you need any information -"

"Ginny!" Rowena had appeared beside the two of them, "You have to come with me." She turned to Harry. "Sorry Harry, but our roommate Kristy just owled me and it sounds like she's about to have a breakdown. You know, because of that fight with Daniel." Harry nodded, vaguely remembering hearing something about that. "Come on Ginny, we need to go." Rowena pulled on her friend's arm, as Ginny was currently just staring at Harry.

"Right," Ginny said suddenly, "Bye Harry. Thanks."

She pulled her gaze off of him when Rowena tugged on her arm again. Giving Harry a slight smile she went to gather her belongings and then went out the door with Rowena.

Harry tried to understand what had happened as he searched for the DADA book that he needed. It wasn't until he looked over at the closed window that he realized that an owl hadn't come into the library while he was here.

* * *

"Ginny I'm your friend and I understand that all of this is really difficult for you," Rowena said as they were walking out of the library, "but I don't like lying for you."

"Then don't. I never asked you to lie for me," Ginny said, "I thought you understood."

"You know what? I don't, not really. You told me why you don't want to tell Harry, but I think that's exactly the reason that you need to. If you really are a seer then nothing you do is going to make a difference. You should at least let Harry know why you're avoiding him. Otherwise he'll try even harder to find out," Rowena threw her hands up in frustration, "You know what? I think that you're just afraid to let him in, to let anyone know that you're vulnerable and don't have control of your life."

"I do have control," Ginny said intensely, "That's what this is all about. Do you know what happened last time I didn't have control of my life? I almost let Voldemort kill people! I have to be in control this time!"

"You're not! This isn't control Ginny. It's desperation."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Ginny asked as the tears in her eyes threatened to fall, "I can't get close to him or I'll kill him! Like I almost killed him before."

"That wasn't you Ginny. It was You-Know-Who."

"Yeah and it'll be Voldemort's fault this time to," Ginny said sarcastically, "Fat lot of good that'll do me when I'm the one holding the wand that kills him."

"Ginny, you have to tell him. He has to know what's going on."

"I can't tell him. If I do it'll all start, and," Ginny choked back a sob, "I can't let him die! I lo-...I care about him."

"If you do, you should let him know what he's facing. He deserves it."

"I can't," Ginny said shakily, "I can't do this right now. Everybody wants way too much from me. I have to go."

Ginny turned around and headed away from Gryffindor Tower and towards the door to the grounds. She barely heard Rowena call her name behind her.

* * *

"I thought you said that you apologized to her," Ron said a few hours later as Ginny walked past their couch in the common room without giving them so much as a glance.

"I did," Harry said as his eyes followed Ginny to the other end of the common room, "Or at least I tried. I don't know. She said that she forgave me, but I think she's still mad."

"Well, that's bloody stupid. I told her to be nice to you when you came to apologize."

"You what?" Harry's head tore away from Ginny's figure and looked questioningly at Ron.

"I told her to be nice to you."

"Why would you tell her a thing like that?"

"Well, it didn't work, so it doesn't really matter."

"It does matter! I don't want you interfering. That's how we got into this mess in the first place," Harry said angrily.

"I'm going to let that go because I know that you're angry," Ron said slowly, "but just because you're mad at Ginny doesn't mean I did anything wrong this time."

Ron got up off the couch and gathered his books.

"I'm going to meet Hermione in the library. I'll talk to you later."

Ron left and Harry focused back on Ginny. She twirled a quill between her fingers and bit her lip as she focused on an essay, the books piled around her on the table. Ginny grabbed a new book from the pile and opened it up, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her ponytail. Harry remembered what it felt like to touch those smooth crimson strands and suddenly wished that he could touch them again. If only he could figure out what exactly was wrong, what was making Ginny stay away from him.

* * *

"I just don't understand why she won't talk to Harry," Ron said as he tapped his fingers on his untouched History of Magic textbook.

"I don't know Ron," Hermione responded absently as she slightly lifted her head from the thick Arithmancy text that she was reading.

"She forgave me," Ron said, "She talks to me."

"Well, things are different between her and Harry. They have history."

"What? And me and Ginny don't have history? She's my sister!"

"I know Ron," Hermione said as she closed her book and turned to more fully face Ron, "It's just that they have a complicated history. He saved her life and she used to fancy him. It could be anything related to that. It could be that she doesn't want him trying to play her knight in shining armor. It could be that she doesn't want to fall for him again. It could be anything."

"Well, she still shouldn't ignore him."

"I know Ron," Hermione said. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "But I think that this is between Ginny and Harry."

"Even if it is, I can't ignore that there's something more going on with her. She's been looking better recently, but I don't think that whatever was bothering her is done."

"Well, we'll just have to go about this a different way then. Maybe she'll just come around to telling us if we spend more time with her. We'll figure it out. We always do."

"Hermione! That's a brilliant idea!" Ron's eyes lit up. "We just have to be around her all the time. She's bound to slip up and mention what's going on!"

Hermione looked at Ron, wondering, and not for the first time, if he was slightly of his rocker. "I meant be her friend Ron," she said slowly, "not stalk her."

"It's all the same." Ron made a vague gesture in the air with his hand. "Now we just need to put that strategy into effect." He quickly grabbed his books and stood up. "You're wicked brilliant Hermione!" he said before ruffling her hair and sprinting out the door.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled as she tried to fix her hair. He was already out the door though. She tried to be irritated with him on principle, but it wasn't quite working as she was too preoccupied with hoping that he would touch her hair again sometime in the future. Ron had been a bit more physical with her lately. Touching her hand, tousling her hair, giving her a friendly push. Hermione liked it, and rather hoped that this meant he might be interested in her, though if he was he was taking his sweet time telling her.

About the other matter, Hermione thought that it might be a wise idea to warn Ginny that her brother planned on stalking her. Otherwise the frustrating boy might end up hexed when she finds out. _Hmm...then__ again, maybe telling Ginny could wait_.

* * *

A/N: Hey everyone! I can't wait to hear what you thought of this chapter. I hope you liked it!

Lavalampronsgirl – I'm so excited that I'll be seeing you this summer! I told my dad and he laughed and said he couldn't believe you remembered that. What's STAR testing? Is that like your standardized testing? Well, tests of any sort are annoying. It must be nice being finished though. Hope you liked this chapter and I'll talk to you again soon. :)

Kitten530 – Sorry that I have to keep you waiting for updates, but hopefully my updates will be more constant during the summer because I don't have to deal schoolwork. Thanks for the encouragement and compliments.

Carrothead – A million thanks for reading my story. I'm really glad that you like it and appreciate the way that I've written Ginny. She's my favorite character and I love her for her quirks and unique qualities. As for getting tired of writing, there are moments when that happens, but don't worry because regardless of how long it takes, I'm going to finish this story. The ending is going to be exciting.

Kelly – I'm glad you like my story. I update as often as possible, but it's variable depending on school, life, work and various other things. Also I'm starting to write a book so that will be taking up more of my time. I'll try not to go too long without updating though.

Comet Moon – You rock. :)


	16. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

* * *

Ginny knew that Ron had been following her around for the past two days. It was rather easy to spot his red-orange hair behind a book in the library, not turning the pages, or to notice that he was always a few meters behind her in a crowd. She knew that he was following her, what she didn't know was why.

_ Dreams of prophecy, as with other forms of divination, are not always clear. They are very hard to distinguish from normal dreams or nightmares, as both typically have personal ties to the seer. When prophetic dreams are repeated, they often contain an important message or an awareness that the seer needs. It is very difficult to even slightly change the outcome of a prophecy, but one must remember that not even the stars are fixed in the sky -_

Ginny jerked away from her divination book as she heard the crash of books behind her. Her brother was looking around dartingly as he tried to quickly mutter an apology to Madam Pince. Ginny sighed and shut her book. It appeared that she was going to have to ask her brother what was going on. She got up and walked over to the fallen pile of books as Ron dashed around the corner.

"Ron!" There was no answer as she traveled back into the depths of the library.

Finally she saw his bright hair peeking out from behind a bookshelf. Creeping up slowly, Ginny waited until she was close enough before she reached around the corner, grabbed Ron's arm, and pulled.

"Ow! Ginny, stop!"

"What are you doing following me around?!"

"I'm not following you around!" he retorted, "I just needed to get a book on-"

He pulled a book from the shelf closet to him and held it up.

"_Mistress Elena's_ _Beauty Charms, _Ron? I think not," Ginny said as she glanced at her brother with an eyebrow raised.

Ron's expression faltered as he snuck a glance at the book in his hand. "Damn," he muttered.

"What did you say?"

"It's just, er, what makes you think that I don't want to be beautiful?"

Ginny looked closely at her brother and tried to remember if perhaps he'd fallen off his broom during their last Quidditch practice. "You're mad," she finally got out, "You know that right?"

"Erm…"

Before Ron could answer, Ginny heard a slight chime from her watch.

"Ron, I have to meet Rowena. We're working on Transfiguration," she walked back over to the table and Ron followed her. Ginny shoved her textbooks into her satchel and grabbed the few scattered quills and sugarquills that she's strewn across the table. She threw the bag over her shoulder and sighed when she realized that Ron was still standing beside her.

"Well," she said as she looked over, "Out with it. Hurry up with whatever you want to say because I happen to be taking my OWLs this year…and _some_ of us want to get proper scores."

"Hey! Eight OWLs is proper!"

Ginny just looked at him.

"Fine," he said seriously, "I want to know why you can't be civil to Harry."

_It always leads back to Harry, doesn't it?_

"I am being civil to Harry! Has he been saying that I haven't?"

"No, he just said that you've been acting odd, but you weren't nice to him when he apologized like I told you to be."

Ginny growled in frustration before responding. "I was perfectly nice to him, and I don't know why it's any of your business anyway."

"It is my business, because you're my sister and he's my best mate," Ron looked carefully at Ginny, "Now if you've been avoiding him because you're worried you're going to fall in love with him again-"

"What?!" Ginny cried, "Why does the entire wizarding world think that I'm in love with Harry bloody Potter?!"

"I didn't say that you _are_ in love with him," Ron said cautiously, "It's just that sometimes emotions are complicated things and-"

"You've been talking to Hermione about this?" Ginny said as she recognized her friend's way of speaking in her brother's words. "Bloody hell."

"Well, Ginny…"

"For your information, I'm not in love with Harry and I don't plan on being properly in love until I'm at least twenty-two, thank you very much," Ginny said pertly.

"Twenty-two? But Ginny, what about first year -"

"Shut it," she said harshly, "Or I'll _tell_ Hermione."

"You wouldn't!" Ron gasped.

Ginny smirked.

"I won't as long as you don't keep pestering me about Harry. Honestly, he's ignored me for years and no one ever thought that was a problem," she finished bitterly.

Ginny started to get lost in her own thoughts when she heard the chime again, this time accompanied by a quiet British voice that said, "You're late dear."

"I'm going Ron," she said with a slight smile, "And next time you spy on me, try harder to be inconspicuous for Merlin's sake."

* * *

The weeks passed and soon it was the week of Halloween. Ginny had thrown herself into her studies and barely had time to sleep. When she did get to sleep, the nightmares continued on a weekly basis.

She and Rowena had continued to search the library, but hadn't found anything truly useful and Ginny now felt as if she knew more about Divination than she'd ever wanted to. At least she knew she'd get an O in at least one subject.

Ginny hadn't seen much of Ron and Hermione lately as they were probably busy with prefect duties. She had continued trying to avoid Harry, but had been perfectly cordial when she did have to interact with him. She did wish, however, that someone had warned her how difficult it would be to continually treat him distantly when she could still remember the feel of his hand in her hair and the comfort of his arms around her and the way he'd wiped away her tears. He'd also seemed quite moody lately and it had taken all the willpower Ginny had not to go over and ask what was wrong.

What with all that on her mind, Ginny thought as she entered the Great Hall early in the morning, it was quite reasonable that she felt frustrated. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed a bit of toast before pouring herself some pumpkin juice. Grateful for the near emptiness of the Hall, Ginny ate in peace as she thought of the match against Slytherin that would occur in a few hours.

Ginny hoped that Malfoy wouldn't cause any problems today, but knew it was too good to ask for. She'd already gotten a detention for nearly hexing him in the corridor two weeks ago after he'd suggested in that smarmy voice of his that they get to know each other better in the broom closet in the Charms corridor. Luckily Ron and Harry hadn't found out, but who knew what they would do if Malfoy tried something today.

"Are you ready for the match?" Ginny automatically looked up at the sound of Harry's voice and tried to scoot over as he slid into the bench directly next to her.

"I suppose," Ginny said noncommittally as she shrugged, "I just wish I weren't so tired."

"Why aren't you in bed then? It's hours until the match. Lord knows Ron's still zonked out."

Ginny tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of having Harry's concerned eyes trained on her. "Couldn't sleep."

"Nightmares?" Harry asked gently.

Ginny bit her lip and turned her head to the side before nodding slightly.

"Me too. It sucks doesn't it?"

Ginny tried to keep a slight smile from appearing on her lips as she replied, "You've got that right." Why did things with Harry have to be so goddamned easy sometimes?

They sat silently for a moment, each lost in memories, until Harry looked over at Ginny and cleared his throat.

"Don't to that again," Ginny joked as she faced him, "Reminds me of Umbridge."

"Yes, well…" Harry faltered as an embarrassed blush crept up his neck. "If I remember correctly, you do a pretty good impression of her yourself."

Ginny shrugged and shyly smiled, surprised that he had remembered. She hoped that she wasn't starting to blush.

"So why did you want my attention?" she said after a moment, "That is why you cleared your throat, right?"

"Yes, er…I just wanted to make sure that you really weren't angry with me anymore," Harry said softly as he played with the hem of his robe.

Ginny looked at him closely and suddenly wondered why all of this mattered so much to him. Wasn't this taking his nobility complex a bit too far?

"Harry, why does it even matter whether or not I'm mad at you? We're not even friends."

Harry's eyes widened and shot up to hers, looking more hurt than she would have expected. She'd only stated a fact.

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it, I guess I leave you alone, won't I?" he said with a twinge of bitterness. He got up to leave and Ginny couldn't help but feel frustrated.

"Ugh, Harry! It's not that big of a deal-" She said, stopping when he raised and tilted his head to look at her as if she didn't understand. Only the memory of her worst fear coming true stopped Ginny from continuing.

"I'll see you on the pitch," he said coldly before walking out of the Great Hall.

Ginny dropped her toast onto the plate and pushed the entire thing away from her. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore.

* * *

In the Gryffindor locker rooms, everyone was a mess. Ron was only looking slightly better than before the last match. He was muttering something about Malfoy under his breath however, and Ginny thought that at least the things Malfoy had said to her would get Ron to play harder. Otherwise, she had finally gotten tired of Harry's sudden attitude change and had taken to glaring at him. He was glaring right back in between bouts of sulkiness. Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke were talking with Alison Bryce, Gryffindor's newest Chaser, about the challenge that Slytherin presented this year and Katie Bell was trying to capture everyone's attention, but frustratingly was unable to do so.

"Listen up now!" Katie finally shouted, "I want you all prepared to beat Slytherin. They're all annoying gits that deserve to be taken down a notch and I expect you lot to do it! Okay?!"

"Yes!" they shouted half-heartedly. Katie sighed.

"I really hope you give a better showing then that when we're out on the pitch. Let's go." She headed out of the locker room and out towards the pitch.

"Ron," Ginny said from her position on the bench, "Can you hand me my broom?"

Ron looked over from his locker and gave his sister a confused look. "Harry's closer. Harry, can you hand Ginny her broom?"

Harry, who'd just been getting his own broom, looked at Ginny and angrily said, "Well I wouldn't want her to think we were _friends_ or anything."

"What are you on about Harry?" Ron asked, trying to understand what was going on, "and what's that got to do with handing her a broom?"

"Fine," Harry ground out, "Do you want your sodding broom?"

"I can get it fine by myself," she said as she angrily got up and brushed past him to grab her Cleansweep.

Throwing one last glare at Ginny, Harry headed out towards the pitch. A moment later Ginny and Ron headed out of the locker room together. Before they reached the blinding sunlight Ron turned to Ginny.

"Whatever's going on between you and Harry better not lose us the match," he said with force, "or I'll lock you in a room together until you figure out what the hell your problems are."

Five minutes later they were all in the air. Ginny shot a glance over to Harry and hoped that Ron wasn't right. Last time their anger had helped their game, but last time they hadn't been angry with each other. The whistle blew.

"Bell gets the Quaffle!" Geoffrey Hooper screamed over the crowd, "she passes to Bryce – ow! That must've hurt! Hope her arm's okay after that Bludger…"

Ginny swooped around and started after Quentin Hayes, who'd retrieved the Quaffle when Alison had dropped it. She'd just about caught up with him when a Bludger flew past her head. She barely dodged it by going into a quick roll.

"Y'okay, Ginny?" Alison called.

"Fine," she answered. If only she'd been able to catch Hayes, who was now approaching the posts. Ron looked uneasy. Determined, but uneasy.

"Hayes scores! Ten points for Slytherin," Hooper shouted, not sounding remotely happy about it.

"So Red, what are you doing after the match?"

Ginny tried to keep from physically cringing when she heard Malfoy's voice and saw that he'd flown up beside her.

"Can't you save the tormenting me until after the match?" she said scathingly.

"Why?" he said with a smirk, "when it's so much fun now."

"Because we're in the middle of a match!" Ginny shouted, "and shouldn't you be looking for the snitch? Or have you decided that it's not even worth trying because Harry always gets it before you anyway?"

Malfoy's eyes narrowed and he looked decidedly angry that she'd pointed out that Harry's abilities as seeker surpassed his own.

"80-10 Slytherin! Come on Weasley," she distantly heard Hooper yell, "This isn't a social!"

"Well, I suppose that you _would_ say that," Malfoy finally said smoothly, "So Red, how does Weasley feel about Potter shagging his sister?"

Ginny didn't care that she was on a broom eighty feet in the air. She crashed into Malfoy and punched him in the face.

"Foul! Can you believe that? That's got to be a foul, right Professor?"

Ginny faintly heard a whistle as Katie pulled her back.

"Ginny," she hissed, "What were you thinking?"

Madam Hooch called a time out and the rest of the Gryffindor team flew over to Katie and Ginny to find out what happened.

"Wow Ginny," Ron said in awe, "That was brilliant."

"It would've been more brilliant if she'd waited until after the match," Harry said gloomily, "We're behind by 70 points."

"He deserved it," Ginny said as she narrowed her eyes at Harry.

"You should've just told me and Ron, we could've dealt with Malfoy after the match." He angrily ran a hand through his hair and looked at Ron, who shrugged.

"I can deal with him on my own Potter! Remember when I hexed him last year?" she said dangerously, "Or is it another one of those things that you _forgot_?"

"Now listen!" Harry yelled as he drifted closer to Ginny while the rest of the team looked on in shock, "I already said I was sorry about that. What do you want from me?!"

Ginny stared at Harry for a moment, not knowing how to respond to the anger and frustration in his voice or the lightening in his darkened green eyes. What did she want from him after all? She wasn't even mad at him if she let herself be truthful. She was just angry. Angry and lonely and…frustrated.

"I-" Ginny didn't know what to say, but was saved from having to figure it out by the whistle blowing.

"I'm still expecting a victory, so get your minds back on the game," Katie Bell said forcefully. Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but Katie held up a hand, "Save it for after the match." Katie flew back to her position.

"Or for never, Ginny," Harry said sarcastically before flying off, "Whichever is more convenient for you."

Play started back up, but Ginny's mind wasn't on the game. It was on Harry and how incredibly messed up her life was. She passed Katie the Quaffle and then flew beside Alison.

"Ginny, are you okay?" Alison asked gently, "You're playing like a robot."

"Bell scores! 80-30, Slytherin still in the lead…Come on Gryffindor! Sorry Professor, I mean 'Come on _everyone_!'"

"Sorry Ali. I'll be fine," Ginny responded before focusing her mind back on the game. If only she could focus her heart back on the game too.

Ginny played better the next ten minutes, scoring three more goals for Gryffindor in addition to Alison's one. The match was finally shaping up to be a decent one…that is, until Malfoy returned.

"So Red, that whole thing about Potter getting the snitch before me, you really believe that huh?"

"Is a bloody nose not enough for you Malfoy?" Ginny asked angrily.

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna get the snitch this time." Ginny laughed.

"How, by cheating?" she asked.

"Whatever works," he said as he looked over at Harry and then to Crabbe and Goyle. "Just thought you'd want to know that I'm going to win."

The possibilities of what Malfoy said didn't sink in until a few minutes after he flew away. Ginny had looked over at the other side of the pitch to see Crabbe and Goyle pointing at Harry, who'd been lazily circling the pitch searching for a hint of gold. Ginny was on her way over to warn Harry when he started to dive, having seen the snitch below. Ginny barely noticed the signal Malfoy gave the two Slytherin beaters, but there was no way she could miss the two Bludgers that were now heading toward Harry with deadly intent.

"Harry!" She yelled.

Unfortunately, the sound of her voice only caused him to hesitate, staying in the spot for a fraction of a second too long. Ginny heard the unhealthy crack of the bludgers hitting bone and watched in horror as Harry started to fall…

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the wait everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought about it. :) Reviews make writing this story a joy and I always look forward to getting them.

Oh, and I decided to make Katie Bell the captain since we don't know for sure if she is a year or two older than Harry and it just fit better into the chapter. Also, I know that the match against Slytherin is typically at the end of the year, but it fit here so, that's the best part about writing the story, I get to make decisions like that! On to review responses!

Kristen - Thank you so much for your compliments about my story! I was so happy to receive your review and I'm honored that it's on your favorites panel. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the latest chapter.

kitten530 - I really appreciate your supportiveness and compliments. I love to get reviewers like you. You're also definitely perceptive. Malfoy is mostly doing it to get to Ron (and Harry for that matter), but there is always more to the situation than what it looks like ;). Oh, there I go being cryptic again! Anyway, it's always a pleasure to hear what you think. :)

lavalampronsgirl - Glad you loved the chapter! I hope you liked this one too. I hope you're having a fun summer (away from tests and such!).


	17. A Second Chance

A/N: Sorry for the delay. School's been crazy. It's my senior year and with classes and applying to grad school and everything I haven't been able to spend much time on my writing. Hope you like this chapter! And don't worry, the delay won't be nearly as long for the next one...I do plan on having the story finished before July 16th.

* * *

The stadium went silent in as Harry fell to the ground and then a roar of noise started up.

"Do you think he's okay?"

"I don't think I've ever seen a fall like that."

"Damn Slytherins. I don't know why the professors don't put a stop to it. Those bludgers had to have been bewitched!"

The crowd continued to talk as Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall rushed over to Harry. Only one comment broke through Ginny's shock-muddled mind.

"Hmm. Guess Potter won't be getting the snitch this game Red."

Ginny turned around to see Malfoy staring at her with a lazy smirk.

"You bastard!" she hissed, "You charmed those bludgers, didn't you?!"

"Prove it," he said confidently.

Ginny opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything horrible enough to say.

"Oh," Malfoy said smoothly as his eyes darted to her left, "You'll have to excuse me, I have a snitch to catch and a match to win."

He'd spotted the snitch. Ginny's eyes widened.

"And keep in mind Red," Malfoy said in a low tone, "I always win."

Malfoy shot off after the snitch and Ginny didn't even wait a moment before following him and going after the snitch herself.

"Malfoy's spotted the snitch!" Hooper yelled, turning the crowd's attention from Harry, who was now being lifted off the pitch, "And what's that? Weasley's going after the snitch too!"

Ginny and Malfoy were now neck and neck twenty feet away from the snitch. She was sure that he was glaring at her, but she didn't care. All she knew was that she had to beat him to the snitch. She wouldn't let him win. She couldn't.

They approached the snitch and Ginny willed her broom to go faster, reaching out her hand as far as it would go, until her fingers closed around the small fluttering golden ball.

"Weasley's caught the snitch! Gryffindor win- Wait, professor! Does…what do the rules say?" Hooper's voice faded.

Ginny flew down to the ground and moments after was surrounded by people shouting congratulations and asking if the match _really _was over, but all she could think of was making it back to the hospital wing and seeing if Harry was all right.

* * *

Madame Hooch called suspension of the game until she could contact someone at the IQA (International Quidditch Association), saying that she had never seen anything like this in all her days at Hogwarts or even when she was a reserve for the Magpies. Ginny ran to the hospital wing as soon as she made the announcement of suspension, not even stopping to change out of her uniform or drop off her broom.

When Ginny entered the hospital wing the all of the adrenaline drained from her body and she suddenly felt very out of place. She felt overly loud and healthy and tried to ignore the peculiar smell of the hospital wing that had always made her feel a bit queasy since her stay there first year. Ginny spotted Harry on a bed in the corner and headed in his direction, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's assertions that the boy was in a delicate condition and shouldn't be disturbed.

Ginny sat down by Harry's bedside and tried not to cringe when she saw how pale his face was, with his contrasting dark hair falling haphazardly across his forehead. Ginny hadn't exactly worked it all out, but knew that somehow this was her fault, just like everything else. She'd provoked Malfoy and she'd distracted Harry at just the wrong moment. But the thing that bothered Ginny most of all as she looked at Harry's closed eyelids, wishing she could see the brilliant green of his eyes, was that they had fought so badly before the accident.

Ginny logically knew that Harry'd been through worse before and that he'd come through this fine, but that didn't stop her heart from stilling as she looked at his unmoving body. The words of their argument rang through her head –

_ We're not even friends. _Her unfeeling words as Harry had sweetly tried to apologize…tried to understand.

_ Well, I wouldn't want her to think that we were friends or anything._ Harry bitterly lashing back.

_ I can deal with him on my own Potter! Remember when I hexed him last year? Or is it another one of those things that you forgot?_ She'd been purposefully belligerent when Harry had just been concerned about the match.

_ I already said I was sorry about that. What do you want from me?!_ Ginny remembered the angry flash of confusion in Harry's eyes and how badly in that moment she'd wanted to make it right between them.

_ Or for never, Ginny.__ Whichever is more convenient for you. _Katie had told them to save their argument til after the match. What if Harry was right? What if they'd never got to –

Ginny shook herself out of the memories and willed herself not to think of the possibility. If…_when_ he got better, she'd have to make it up to him. She'd at least want Harry to know that she didn't hate him, that she truly wanted them to be friends. She'd been so worried today when he'd taken the fall that he'd never know how much she cared, even if she didn't act it.

"Oh Harry," Ginny whispered as she gently closed her hand around one of his, "This is a right mess we've found ourselves in, isn't it?"

She reached up to his forehead and brushed a lock of his hair out of the way, showing his scar. Ginny traced it gently and whispered, "It always comes back to that, doesn't it? Voldemort wanting to take over the world and the two of us in the middle."

Ginny heard Harry sigh and was relieved at the audible evidence that he really was alive.

"Do you ever wonder sometimes," she asked him softly, not caring for a response, "What your life would've been like if He hadn't been a part of it? Of course you do."

Ginny gently stroked Harry's hand with her thumb.

"It would've been easier, you know, but it hurts to dwell on that. I do though, and I know you do too. I've seen it in your eyes sometimes when you think nobody's looking. I look though Harry."

Ginny couldn't believe that she was admitting all this out loud, all these things that she'd never said, but had desperately wanted to. She looked around quickly to make sure that no one else was in this section of the hospital wing and checked Harry's eyes to make sure that they were still closed.

"I've wondered Harry, if we might've been closer if none of this had happened. Or perhaps we're as close as we ever could have been _because_ of Voldemort. It makes me cringe inside sometimes, knowing that our relationship can be defined in terms of Him."

Ginny angrily wiped a tear from her eye with the sleeve of her uniform. She hated that this was what her life had become.

"I know that I can't say it to you Harry, because that'll just mess things up, and I don't really trust my own feelings anyway, but you've always known…Please get better Harry," she finished desperately as she cried into their intertwined hands.

"Ginny!" she heard Ron shout and looked up to see him and Hermione rush into the hospital wing, "How is he?"

"Tolerable I suppose," she responded shakily, "Madame Pomfrey said that he's in a delicate condition and I didn't really listen after that."

"How'd you get here so fast?" Hermione questioned. "Ron and I rushed here as soon as we could."

Ginny shrugged and noticed that both Hermione and Ron, also still in his uniform, looked harried.

"Well," Hermione said hesitantly as she looked at the bed and noticed that Ginny was clutching Harry's hand tightly, "I'm going to go ask Madame Pomfrey how Harry is doing." She touched Ron's arm. "I'll be right back."

Ron sat down in a chair next to Ginny. The silence was deafening until Ron finally spoke up.

"Well, at least you're not fighting now. Bloody awkward, that was."

"Ron, it's not funny," Ginny responded seriously.

"I wasn't trying to be funny. I was telling the truth. I'm glad you two have made up," he finished, nodding to where Ginny's hand held Harry's.

"He isn't even conscious!" she said as she let go of Harry's hand, "We can't have made up!"

"Details, details, Ginnikins. You know that as soon as the argument's over on your end it'll be over on his as soon as he wakes up. Harry knows better than to fight with a Weasley."

"I've been terrible to him, haven't I?" Ginny asked quietly, turning her head towards her brother. Ron looked at her sympathetically and pulled her into a hug. They stayed that way until Hermione returned.

"Madame Pomfrey says that she's given Harry potions that will heal his ribs and help the concussion. She thinks he'll wake as soon as his body's recovered from the shock."

"How long?" Ginny asked.

"He'll have to stay here for at least a week, but Madame Pomfrey says that he should wake within a day or so," Hermione said as she sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed.

"Thank God," Ginny breathed.

The three of them just sat there for a while, looking at Harry's pale face and hoping for the best. The clock chimed the hour and Hermione checked her watch.

"Ron," she said gently, "We need to go on out rounds."

"Okay," he said absently as he stood up, looking at Harry before walking over to Hermione's side.

"Do you want to walk partway back with us Ginny," Hermione asked.

"No. I'll stay here." Hermione nodded in understanding and took Ron's hand to gently steer him towards the door. If she'd been holding his hand under any other circumstances she would've been ecstatic. Hermione took one last look at Ginny, whose scarlet and gold contrasted sharply with the excessive white of the hospital wing and who looked like she was about to cry, and walked out of the door with her hand in Ron's.

* * *

Ginny opened her eyes the next morning when the sun hit her and rubbed her shoulders as she tried to ease the kink in her neck. It took her a moment of blinding whiteness to realize that she'd spent the rest of the day and the entire night by Harry's side. And in an entirely uncomfortable position at that. She'd spent the entire night in a stiff wooden chair with her head resting against Harry's arm on the bed and one of her arms strewn across his stomach.

"If I ever spend the night with Harry again," she mumbled, "I'm sleeping in the bed."

"Ginny?"

She heard Harry's scratchy voice and it suddenly hit her how that last sentence could've sounded. Mortified, she could only manage a weak, "Yes?"

Ginny looked up and was stunned to see Harry's worn emerald eyes.

"You're awake! Oh Harry!" Ginny threw herself at him and hugged him with an intensity that surprised them both. "I was so scared," she said softly as she pulled back slightly.

"Well, I couldn't let you kick me out of bed, now could I?" he said jokingly.

"You twit! Teasing me when I'm out of my mind with worry." Ginny hit him gently on the arm.

"Out of your mind, huh?" Harry said softly and Ginny realized with a jolt that his arms were still around her waist.

"I'm sorry Harry," Ginny blurted out when she felt one of his hands reach out and touch her hair. His hand stilled. "I've been horrid to you. I really do want to be your friend. I just never thought…When you fell I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to tell you that I was sorry."

Ginny drew in a shaky breath as she stared down at Harry's chest, avoiding his eyes.

"Ginny." At his voice she looked up. Harry looked so unabashedly open and vulnerable that it surprised her. "_Can_ we be friends?"

Something in Harry's tone made Ginny wonder if there was more to the question than showed on the surface. She knew that this question was one of the most important she'd ever been asked. She had to answer it correctly.

"I'd like to be," Ginny said quietly. It was the truth and probably more than she could afford, but he had to know.

Harry gave a slight smile. It gave Ginny the confidence she needed.

"Let's start over," Ginny said as she leaned back out of Harry's arms and stuck out her hand, "Hi. My name's Ginny Weasley. I'm the youngest of seven children. I hate pistachio ice cream, but love sugarquills and I'm fond of Quidditch, music, and boys named Harry Potter."

Harry laughed and took her hand.

"Hi. My name's Harry Potter. Aside from all the stuff in the history books, I'm dismal at Potions, though I've by some chance of luck made it into the NEWT class. One of my favorite pastimes is sneaking around after hours using my invisibility cloak and nipping a bite to eat from the kitchens and I'm fond of Quidditch, chocolate frogs, and girls named Ginny Weasley."

Ginny grinned as they shook hands and Harry grinned back.

"So how are you feeling?" Ginny asked when the giddy feeling had passed.

"Like I got hit by a couple of bludgers," he said lightly.

"Well that's unusual," Ginny said with a smirk.

"I know, oddest thing." Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry's pretended ignorance and gave him a playful shove.

"Hey!" Harry shouted, "Easy there. I'm not in the hospital wing for fun you know."

"Oh," Ginny said, chagrined, "Sorry about that."

"'S'okay. So how long til I get out of here?"

"Madame Pomfrey said about another week."

Harry's face fell and Ginny remembered how he hated being cooped up in here. She needed to distract him.

"So, Mr. Potter," she said smoothly as she changed the subject, "what's this about an invisibility cloak?"

* * *

A/N: As always, I can't wait to hear what you thought! Thanks for reading. :) 


	18. An Eventful Dinner

A/N: I'm really sorry that it's been absolutely forever since I've updated. Thanks for all of you that have asked me to continue and have given me encouragement. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

A week later Harry got out of the hospital wing and things were back to normal. Or rather, what Ginny imagined would be normal in this strange world where she and Harry were friends. Ever since Harry had woken up and they'd "started over", it was like someone had obliviated the last six months from her memory. She wasn't having nightmares and had been spending an inordinate amount of time with Harry, not that he seemed to mind. With all of the time they'd spent together and all the in-jokes they'd started to have, it was almost as if they were best mates, or...

"Dating! Of course they're not dating. Go find somebody else to bother." Ginny heard Ron yell at a blonde third year on the way to the dinner.

Harry looked over at Ginny, hoping to share a laugh at Ron's behavior, but she looked a little rattled.

"Ron," Hermione started when he came back to join their group, "What in heaven's name was that about?"

Ron shook his head and mumbled something about "the next bloody Rita Skeeter".

"Ron?" Hermione put her hand on his arm.

"I mean, don't they think that people just want to bloody live their lives? Poking their damn noses in where they don't belong."

Ron looked at Hermione, and mistook her surprise for something else. "Sorry," he said, "I know I shouldn't swear."

"What did she _want_ Ron?" Hermione's tone was persistent. She stopped walking and the other three stopped too.

"Do you think they're gonna row?" A deep voice said close to Ginny's ear.

Ginny looked up to see Harry smirking. "I don't know," she whispered back. "Maybe we should duck into a corner or something. Avoid the blast."

Harry nodded and Ginny's head was immediately filled with fantasies of what it would be like to "duck into a corner" with Harry Potter.

Corners are cramped spaces; they would have to stand really close together. And there would be whispering, Ginny thought. Harry has a really sexy whisper.

"It's nothing new really," Ron continued with a groan of frustration, "I mean they're always asking me rubbish about Harry, but now they've brought my sister into it"

Ginny had just gotten through reminding herself that being friends with Harry didn't include snogging, when he grabbed her hand, presumably to drag her to a dark corner where he was going to be polite and friendly and not have his way with her.

Distracted, Ginny tripped when Harry pulled on her hand. He caught her around the waist and her hands fell to his arms. She thanked the powers that be for Harry's seeker skills and was just about to right herself when she heard her brother.

"...And is it really any surprise? Look at the way they've been acting since he got out of the hospital wing."

Ron gestured his hand over to Harry and Ginny, who disentangled themselves as quickly as possible.

"She tripped!" Harry said desperately.

"Well," Ginny after she'd gathered her wits back together, "If talk was true than you and Hermione would be calling for your, what, fourth anniversary?"

Ron sputtered and Hermione's blushing face glared at her.

"Let's go eat," Ginny said with a smile as she pushed open the doors of the Great Hall.

Ginny wanted to sit with Harry, but realized that she'd been ditching her friends a lot lately to sit with him, Ron, and Hermione. Sitting down beside Rowena and across from Colin, she couldn't help but notice that Harry shot one last glance her way before sitting down.

"Look who decides to join us today." Rowena looked angry.

"I'm sorry Rowena, I really am. It's just, I've been, well..." Ginny trailed off and gave a pleading look to her friend.

"Enjoying yourself with Harry? You know, Kristy's telling everyone that you followed some advice she gave you and - " Rowena said with a sly smile.

"It's not like that!" Ginny took a deep breath. "We're...friends."

"Yeah," Rowena said sarcastically, "And polar bears live in the tropic. I wanna hear some details."

Ginny held her head in her hands. Everyone assumed that she and Harry were together. Everyone assumed that they were snogging, which they weren't! There weren't any details that anyone but herself would be interested in. Ginny didn't think that Rowena would appreciate a description of what it was like to touch Harry's hand.

"Row, why don't you leave Ginny alone for now?" Colin pleaded, feeling uncomfortable with the whole discussion.

"And did you forget about our little project?" Rowena hissed. "Because while you were out flouncing around with Harry for the past week, Colin and I found something."

Ginny's silverware crashed to her plate and she shot up. "You told Colin!"

Rowena looked around nervously. She pulled on Ginny's arm.

"Ginny, everybody's watching."

Ginny looked around and sure enough, the entire Great Hall had stopped to look at her. Ginny slowly sat down. She felt sick.

"You told Colin?" she whispered.

"Yes," Rowena said, "but not about the visions themselves, just that you've been having them."

Ginny looked over at Colin and he nodded.

"I'm really interested in the fact that you think you might be a Seer. Learning about them was my favorite subject in Divination and -"

Ginny looked at Rowena quickly.

"So he doesn't know about _the dream_," Ginny said with emphasis, hoping that Rowena hadn't told Colin his part in things like she was always adamant about doing for Harry.

"No," Rowena said firmly, though she didn't seem happy about it.

Colin cut in. "Can you two please stop talking about me as if I weren't here?"

The chiming of a glass called their attention to the head table.

"Now," Dumbledore said, "We have a few announcements. The first is a long-awaited announcement from Madam Hooch regarding the Quidditch match."

"Well," Madam Hooch said as she stood up holding an official-looking piece of parchment, "I've spoken with the IQA and they've looked it up for me. Apparently the last time this happened was in 1732 in a match between -"

"Just get to it already!" Malfoy yelled from the Slytherin table. Professor McGonagall glared at him and he didn't say anything else.

"As I was saying," Madam Hooch continued, "In the event that a team's seeker is out of commission, as it were, another team member may go after the snitch. Therefore, because Harry Potter was being carted to the hospital wing at the time of the incident, Ginny Weasley's capture of the snitch stands. Congratulations Gryffindor."

Ginny dropped her fork again. She'd won the match for Gryffindor!

All of her classmates were cheering and clapping and smiling at her. It was nice having done something great. Rowena clapped her on the shoulder and said congratulations. Geoffrey Hooper and Alison Bryce came by to express their excitement over Gryffindor's win. She was positive she saw a flashbulb go off and sure enough, Colin winked at her before putting away his camera.

"Ginny!"

She heard her brother's voice and looked further down the table to where he was giving her a thumbs up and Harry was smiling at her. Smiling back, Ginny faintly noticed some singing.

_Weasley is our Queen_

_She's the best we've ever seen_

_That's why the Gryffindor's all sing:_

_Weasley is our Queen..._

Ding, ding, ding.

The tapping of Dumbledore's spoon on the glass brought Ginny out of what she would've been sure was a dream if Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan hadn't continued humming the song.

"As pleased as we all are with Gryffindor's good fortune," Dumbledore said as the Slytherins grumbled, "And Miss Weasley's amazing performance, there is another matter that we need to discuss. I've decided that this year, in order to spread good cheer and all that, we will be having another Yule Ball..."

Ginny heard Rowena and many of the other girls gasp. But instead of being happy like they were, she felt sick to her stomach. Yule Balls were unlucky. Granted, Ginny had only been to one, but at that one she'd had her feet stepped on, had to watch Harry moon over Cho, and had met the mistake known as Michael. Not to mention that scene where Ron had tried to fix her up with Harry. Yule Balls were an unlucky disaster.

After Dumbledore finished with his announcement about the Ball, Ginny noticed that everyone was acting really strangely. Their eyes were darting back and forth a lot and everyone, except for a few gossiping girls like Kristy and Lavender who were likely strategizing, was amazingly quiet. Chancing a glance further down the table, Ginny noticed that Harry looked like he was in shock, Hermione looked horrified, and Ron looked like he was about to throw up.

Scooting further down the bench, Ginny could barely make out what Hermione was saying. It sounded like she was talking to herself.

"...why does he have to do this? I don't want to go to a ball. I was perfectly fine going along in my life without having to deal with this. Now I have to think about who I'm going to go with and..."

Ginny recognized the nervous babbling and looked back to her brother who also seemed to be having a conversation with himself. He gave one resolute nod and looked at Hermione.

"Hermione." She stopped talking and the rest of the table hushed too. With the sudden silence, Ginny was able to hear clearly Ron's next words.

"Will you go to the Ball with me?"

Ginny fell out of her seat.

* * *

Hermione was staring at Ron with wide eyes. "What?" she finally said, in a shaking tone.

"Well, it's just," Ron said, "that last time you told me to ask you before anyone else did and I figured...well no one else has had the time to ask you."

Hermione just stared at him. "Really?" she whispered.

"Yes," Ron said firmly as the rest of Gryffindor looked on, entranced. "Now if you don't want to go with me I wish you'd just tell me and get it over with."

"You want to go to the Ball with me?"

"Isn't that what I said?" Ron gestured at the air.

"Well no, not exactly, but..." Hermione paused. "As friends?"

Ron's jaw dropped.

"If you think I'd have this much bloody trouble asking you to go as friends..."

Hermione smiled. "Of course I'll go with you, you daft git. Better late than never."

"Late? What are you talking about Hermione? I was the first one that bloody asked you!" Ron threw his napkin on the table and stood up.

Hermione laughed and stood up. "Yes you did, and I said yes. Now come here."

Ron leaned over the table, still looking a bit perturbed. "What?"

Hermione leaned the last little bit over the table until her face was inches from Ron's. He'd asked her to the Ball and had basically admitted that he fancied her. Hermione was beside herself with happiness. So she did something that she'd been wanting to do for a very long time. She kissed her best friend. On the lips.

It wasn't until the cheering erupted that she realized she'd done so in the middle of the Great Hall. Mortified, but wanting to salvage some shred of dignity, she backed away from Ron who was just now opening his eyes as if he'd been sleeping.

"Thank you for asking me," Hermione said primly to Ron. She turned and was about to leave the table when she heard Ron call her name.

"Yes?"

He smiled at her and Hermione thought she might faint.

"Thanks for saying yes."

Hermione was sure she was blushing as she gave a quick nod and left the Great Hall.

* * *

"So they've finally gone and done it," Ginny whispered as she picked herself up from the floor. "Amazing."

"They're cute together," Rowena agreed. "Now about what I was saying before, Colin and I have been doing some researching and we think we've found the spell."

"The spell?" Ginny said absently as she stared at Harry. He was saying something to Ron with a big smile on his face. Ron was just staring off into space dreamily, but Harry...Harry was smiling. And laughing. He didn't do that often these days. She missed it.

"Ginny! Get your bloody eyes off Harry Potter and pay attention!"

"Oh sorry," she apologized as she turned to face Rowena, "You were saying?"

"We've found _the spell_ Ginny. The one we've been looking for for weeks."

"You've found it? Can we do it?"

"We think so," Colin answered. "We can try it right after we finish eating. We found it in this ancient book in the Restricted Section."

"We aren't allowed in there!"

"Colin got a pass from McGonagall, Ginny," Rowena interjected. "Told her he was researching some photography thing." Rowena smiled at Colin.

"I don't understand why that would work. Photography isn't dangerous."

"Point is that it worked, and we've found it. Dinner's ending. We can do it now and then you'll know."

_You'll know._

Ginny knew that she should be glad that soon she'd know about whether or not her dreams but she felt a tightness in her chest that she knew was fear. Knowing could be a good thing or bad. 'What was it that they said about knowledge again?' Ginny wondered.

"Ginny," Harry said from behind her. Knowledge is dangerous, Ginny found herself remembering as she turned to look at him, and ignorance is bliss.

Ginny stood up slowly and attempted a smile.

"Oh. Hi Harry."

He grinned at her and Ginny felt the fluttering in her stomach start up. Getting used to that again had been irritating. In fact, it still was. But really, what was she supposed to do when his lips curved up like that voluntarily and his eyes looked at her and he stood so close.

"Ginny," Rowena said firmly.

Ginny turned around and saw that Rowena and Colin had gotten up from the table and were ready to leave. _Damn._

"You guys can go without me," she finally replied. At a harsh glare from her best friend she added, "I'll meet you there soon."

Rowena shook her head at Ginny before grabbing Colin's arm and pulling him along.

"I didn't mean to...If you have something to do..." Harry trailed off uncertainly as Ginny turned back to face him.

"It was nothing."

"I just wanted to congratulate you about Quidditch and say, well, thanks. Since it was supposed to be my job and everything. I wish I could've seen it."

"Thanks," Ginny said with a smile. "It is rather exciting."

"So," Harry said as he shoved both hands in his trousers and looked around nervously, "Ron finally did it."

Ginny laughed. "Yep, I guess the Yule Ball worked as a sort of catalyst for him this time. Funny how things change after a few years, huh?"

Harry's eyes widened a bit and he shoved a hand nervously through his hair.

"Yeah," he said.

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times and Ginny could only hope that he was going to ask her to the Ball this time. And then her watch started beeping. She glanced down at it. It ready "library" in italic letters. That was the problem with magical watches, they didn't let you procrastinate.

"I've got to go Ginny," Harry burst out. "Occulmancy lessons with Dumbledore, you know how it is."

"Sure," Ginny frowned as Harry walked away. She'd been almost sure that he was going to say something about the Ball. Frustrated, she walked out of the Great Hall and headed down the corridor toward the library. She was just turning the corner when a voice called out behind her. The last voice that she wanted to hear.

"Hey Red!"

Ginny turned around to face Malfoy. "Stalking is illegal, you know."

"No need to have an attitude," Malfoy said with a smirk. "I just wanted to say congrats."

"What are you really here for?" Ginny asked as she put her hands on her hips. "I don't have time for this little game of yours."

"Pity," he said as he walked closer, "You're the only one that's matches me well enough for this game to be any fun."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to leave, but Malfoy grabbed her arm.

"We're going to the Ball together Red."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "Why in the world would you want to go to the Ball with me?"

"You're one of the most attractive girls at Hogwarts and you're still a pureblood, though you seem to forget that most of the time. Plus," he added with a triumphant look in his eyes, "It would kill Potter to see you go to the Ball with me."

"Oh God, you're so full of yourself. Thanks for the laugh though."

Ginny jerked her arm away from Malfoy's hand. He grabbed it again.

"I'll let you go now, but you're going to be begging me to take you later."

Ginny thought there was something really creepy about the way that he said it, and was glad when he let her go. "In your dreams, Malfoy."

He laughed. "No, Red, I believe it would be more correct to say _in yours_."

Ginny tried to suppress a shiver as Malfoy turned around and left. She couldn't help the feeling that Malfoy knew something that she didn't. He'd been paying much more attention to her this year and there had to be a reason why.


End file.
